Transitioning to and from Work Time at Home

​Among the challenges of working from home is creating boundaries between work time and personal time. To keep the lines from blurring, Elizabeth Grace Saunders, time management coach and author of How To Invest Your Time Like Money, offers these tips:

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• Have a starting ritual: Mr. Rogers changed his sweater and sang a song. You don't need to do that, but you do need to alert your brain that it’s now work time. As a prelude to start of business, you might, for example, turn certain lights on or off, make a cup of coffee, load or unload the dishwasher, or do some stretches or neck rolls. (Tweet it!)
• Make a work plan and follow it: At the same time each day – perhaps first thing in the morning or when you wrap up the day before—lay out a game plan for your work day, including meeting times, projects you want to progress on, and windows for responding to email. Plans may change, but it’s best to have one.
• Prioritize your communication: Most of us need to have some personal communication during work hours and some professional communication after hours. But prioritize these communications so they don't encroach and steal time you’ve allocated for each mode. For example, you might answer non-essential personal texts in a block of time each evening. 
• Set a wrap-up routine: To prepare for being “off the clock”, have a work wrap-up routine that begins about 30 minutes before your workday ends. This could include doing a final check to ensure you’ve replied to all critical emails and looking over your game plan to note what has to be continued the following day.

What strategies do you use to keep yourself more focused and present whether you’re working or enjoying personal time? To join the conversation, click "comments" above.
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