5 Tips to Break Up Your Workdays While Working From Home
While working from home, I find it’s even more difficult to close up the workday. And this is normal, but often ignored by working “even harder”.
In my early days, I always thought that working as long as possible was the way to achieve my goals. And in a way, it helped me a lot, but there is a downside to this approach. You tend to burn out on programming from time to time. And this is normal, but often ignored by working “even harder”.
My solution to this problem was always working out, but this is not for everyone. That’s why I wanted to find a way for every developer to break up the workdays and get the rest you deserve. Best case scenario, you will even get more work done by working less.
No-Code Day
The first thing that really works for me is a no-code day. This day is either Saturday or Sunday for me. On this day, I write blog posts, listen to audiobooks, and sometimes even read about new technologies, but I don’t write a line of code. This helps me to remove the focus on the pile of work that is waiting for me and allows me to do other things that I enjoy.
I never knew that it would even improve my productivity by giving programming a rest. What also works for me is to create a plan of attack for the next week during the no-code day.
Take Breaks Like You Would at the Office
If you’re used to working at the office, you probably take some breaks during the day and a pretty long lunch break. But when you have a pile of work waiting for you, you tend to take fewer breaks when you’re sitting at home.
Things like eating during a video call to avoid “wasting time” or skipping breakfast because you have a call at 9 AM. I solved this problem by scheduling three breaks at certain hours. These breaks will reduce your stress levels by a lot.
Create a Separate Workspace
I know this is not always possible for everyone, but for those of you who can, make sure to separate your working environment from your private environments. I turned a bedroom into an office and I only sit there while working. Leaving the office finishes off the day and allows me to start doing something else.
Sleep
You might be coding at night and it could carry you away. When I get in the zone, it could result in staying awake till 2 AM, and that’s not good when you’re waking up at 6 AM.
To make sure you sleep well, try and put away all devices 1 hour before going to bed. Maybe you could pick up a book and read some pages to finish off your workday.
Turn Off Your Notifications
I know the FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) is very high. Certainly when you have an active and interesting Slack in your company. But try turning off your notifications for 1 day and check it 3 times a day. You will thank me later.
This improved my productivity by at least 20% on the first day. I also figured out that checking my emails only 3 times a day has the same impact because mails are not that urgent. When the matter is urgent enough, they will just call you.