Finding Your Working From Home Flow
For many of us working from home is new and brings with it many challenges. Without the separation of going to the office, we can struggle with poor concentration, procrastination, inefficiency and inability to “switch off.” And that’s just people who AREN’T trying to juggle their work with home-schooling their children! But why is this change so challenging for most of us?
The answer lies in our “Biological rhythms.” Our bodies are rhythmic organisms and have a natural cycle of change in chemicals and functions. We have an internal master “clock” that regulates these rhythms in our brain. Most of us will have heard of the “circadian rhythm” which is the rhythm that regulates our sleep and wake cycle and runs of the 24-hour clock. You will also be aware of the female menstrual cycle which is an “infradian rhythm”.
Beyond these, there are many rhythms that we are unconscious of that determine things like our energy levels, concentration, appetite, body temperature, blood pressure, alertness, creativity, ability to solve problems and reaction times. Many external factors can influence these rhythms including, exercise, exposure to sunlight, nutrition as well as caffeine and other drugs.
In order to best help, yourself adapt to working from home, and be most productive, try to get into a regular rhythm as soon as possible. Follow the tips below:
Keep a normal sleep and wake routine. Try not to deviate when you go to bed and when you wake up more than an hour from your usual time, on weekends too! Even if you CAN sleep in now, DON’T.
Exercise outside first thing in the morning. Sunlight helps regulate your circadian rhythm and exercise kick starts your whole body system. Getting sunlight and exercise endorphins first thing will set you up for the day.
Eat healthily and regularly. Keep your regular meal times and try not to snack more than usual. Plan your work-breaks rather than use snacking as a procrastination excuse. Make sure you eat some protein with every meal (to help extend your energy and attention) and steer away from highly processed carbs and high sugar (high GI) foods.
Use your “dopamine window” wisely. Dopamine increases your alertness, attention, motivation and memory and it’s higher in the morning. Schedule your most boring or complex tasks in the morning between 8-11 am when your dopamine levels are high.
Take breaks. Taking a short break (5-15 minutes) every hour or hour-and-a-half and longer breaks (>30mins) every 2 to 4 hours will help you improve your focus, memory, creativity and decision making. The specific optimal ratio of work-to-break will vary depending on the person and the type of work so experiment.
Separate spaces and reduce distractions. Visual and physiological cues like a different room, different outlook and a different body posture will unconsciously trigger different responses from our bodies. Try to separate your workspace from the space where you relax, sleep or eat and try to minimise distractions in your workspace.