Work from Home works? According to some researchers, the answer is yes, working from home can be harmful to your health. According to our own internal research with our best virtual assistant services, ANY work is harmful to you. However, our employees may be a little biased. Basically, the issue here is that there is no transition between work and home.

Divide and Conquer

Have you ever heard leave work at work and home at home? Well, there is more to that phrase than you might think. It seems that the commute that we all hate so much actually does more for you than you know. By moving from one place to another, you are giving yourself a break between the different areas of your life. When you are working from home you are faced with your job and the things that need to be done around the house. So while you are doing you work, you are also looking or thinking about all the things around the house that need to be done. If you have young children you are never really away from them. Many times they get underfoot and cause more chaos for you to deal with. All these things together tend to make your stress level go up and you know very well that no one needs more stress. But, as you are reading this, you are saying that there are people who work from home and cope with it just fine.

A Bit Simple Yet Complicated

I have done all my research and working from home is something I really want to do. What can I do to make all this work? Of course, there is no easy answer and many times you have to do some trial and error to really get down to what works for you. But here are a few things that you can try. Give yourself a commute – Yes, make that break from home to work. Go down to the local coffee shop and pick up your favourite coffee. Step out and get the paper. Even go for a morning jog. Then when you return home go in to your office and get to work. Don’t pass go, don’t collect $200 and don’t acknowledge house stuff. Have an office – To further your break between home and work give yourself an office, with a door you can close. Don’t have a desk in the middle of the living room where all life is taking place.

1+1 is 200%

It sounds strange but if you don’t have this division you can actually get caught up in work and add more stress to your life. If you have to have your office in a room that you use for other things try to find a way to divide the space. Maybe find a dressing screen or build a small divider so that you have a little more private office space. You could even just use tape lines and forbid anyone from crossing over them. You might have to work a bit on the dog and cat but over time they will come around to your way of thinking…maybe. Keep personal things to a minimum – In an office environment many people bring a few things from home. Like a picture of the family and so on to make them feel more comfortable and this is good. But when you are at home you have family all around you so don’t bring too much of family into your office.

Make Less Domesticated

This is not to say that you can’t have the basic stuff you would have in an office. Just don’t decorate the walls with pictures from the last family vacation. Make the space light and sunny and comfortable. Choose a warm paint color that isn’t used in any other part of the house. Remember this is your office space so make it professional and clean. Give yourself a break – To help you keep up the office feeling make sure you take a break from time to time. Get up go to the bathroom, eat a snack, grab some coffee or water to drink. Also have a set time to have lunch and so on. If you are used to getting some exercise when you take a break from office work continue to do this when working from home. Remember this is work and if you were in a multi-person office you would have the opportunity to do these things. So treat you home office the same way.

Stay Social

Stay Social – No this doesn’t mean you need to do more things with your friends. You do that anyway. You need to have other social interaction. Think about it, when you are at an outside office you are forced to interact with other people. This may not always be pleasant, but you are dealing with different people and you get different input from them. Because of this you keep up on what’s happening in the world and just other view points of life. To give yourself this interaction think about joining a social group. You can involve your spouse or just find a group that does things you enjoy or are interested in. A social group can help you get out of your comfort zone and give you what you are missing when you don’t have a water cooler to gather around. So while working from home can be detrimental to your health, there are ways to keep the impact to a minimum. Of course these are some ideas to get you started, and what works for one person will not work for someone else.

Conclusion

You have to find that balance between work life and home life. It doesn’t matter if you are working from home or outside of the home. Just a side note, there are no studies saying that when you take a break you can’t put a load of laundry in the washer or do the dishes. Technically you could say that if you are drawing that line between work and home. You should not do that household chores during work time. But really, isn’t one of the reasons you decided to work from home? To give yourself a better balance on work and life. So, if you don’t take it to the extreme go for it. Because really this is all about making things work for you.