{"id":6210,"date":"2019-09-10T14:06:35","date_gmt":"2019-09-10T13:06:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/?p=6210"},"modified":"2022-09-20T16:15:35","modified_gmt":"2022-09-20T15:15:35","slug":"how-to-stay-happy-healthy-when-working-from-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/how-to-stay-happy-healthy-when-working-from-home\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Stay Happy and Healthy When Working From Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the face of it, working from home is a dream. The longest commute you\u2019ll have is from your bed to your desk, you\u2019ll never be bothered by annoying coworkers, and you can take your lunch break whenever you feel like it. Speak to most freelancers however, and it\u2019s not necessarily so straightforward. They know all about the pressure to be always on, and always at your desk, as well as the uncomfortable feeling that your job is slowly bleeding into your home life. For many people, it can also be an isolating experience that lacks the social interaction office workers take for granted. But if you prefer the quiet of your own space to a shared studio, or can\u2019t afford a standalone workspace, there are ways to stay sane.<\/span><\/p>\n

Establishing Boundaries<\/h4>\n

For illustrator Nadine Kolodziey – who spends half her time working from a studio in Frankfurt and the other half from her home in Berlin – it\u2019s all about establishing boundaries and sticking to them. \u201cI set a plan from nine to seven, often it\u2019s longer and often it\u2019s at the weekends, but these are my \u2018opening times\u2019,\u201d she told us. \u201cIt\u2019s important, even in your home office, to be structured and have a separation of free time and working time. If you\u2019re at home it\u2019s difficult not to get distracted by the laundry, or going out for lunch or something. It\u2019s good to have a time frame within your work schedule.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Nadine
Nadine Kolodziey photographed by Camilo Brau<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kolodziey says it helps to create some simple rituals that kick the day off \u2013 like walking the dog, or going out for a coffee. \u201cIt\u2019s important to have this moment of, \u2018Oh, OK, now work time is starting\u2019,\u201d she says. \u201cSometimes I go to the bakery over the street, so I have a reason to get fully dressed, go outside, get some fresh air, and have a mindset switch of \u2018OK, I\u2019m going to work, even though I\u2019m at home\u2019. It\u2019s a psychological trick, but it works quite well.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Divide Up The Day<\/h4>\n

Even once you\u2019re into work mode though, it can still be hard to ignore distractions. For Kolodziey, who shares her flat with friends, it\u2019s sometimes difficult to avoid the temptation of chatting in the kitchen with her housemates. For this, she recommends using a work clock which divides the day up into sections of time, including periods to work, browse memes, have a snack, go for a walk and socialise.<\/span><\/p>\n

By planning in parts of the day that aren\u2019t focused on work, it makes it easier to avoid distraction, and also make sure you aren\u2019t glued to the same spot for eight hours a day. To make sure she sticks to it, Kolodziey says she sets an alarm to remind her when it\u2019s time for breaks. She also tracks the amount of time spent on different clients across the day, as a reassurance of just how much work she\u2019s getting done.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Nadine
Nadine Kolodziey photographed by Camilo Brau<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You shouldn\u2019t be a slave to your work, it\u2019s more like a partner<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about mixing your urges as a human with your duties as a working person,\u201d she says. \u201cLunch breaks are really important to reset your mind and plan what\u2019s coming next, so I usually do a coffee break at 11, a lunch break at 1, and dinner around 7. It\u2019s not super strict, so sometimes it will shift slightly. But it\u2019s important to really get out of the zone, because if you eat a sandwich while still working, you work for so long your focus drifts.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Nadine
Nadine Kolodziey photographed by Camilo Brau<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cYou shouldn\u2019t be a slave to your work, it\u2019s more like a partner,\u201d she adds. \u201cYou can pressure yourself short term if you have a difficult project, but if you do that longterm you won\u2019t be happy, and you can feel that everything is created under pressure.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Flexible Hours<\/h4>\n

For freelance graphic designer Josh Saunders, it\u2019s important that home workers don\u2019t feel imprisoned at their desk, but instead take advantage of having flexible hours. This means if creative block strikes, it\u2019s OK to step away and go for a walk, or play video games, and return to a project later on. Even small distractions – he sometimes plays with a kendama for ten minutes – can help take the pressure off.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Joshua
Joshua Saunders design for Purveyors of Packaging<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cA former creative director of mine would always encourage me to take a walk around the block,\u201d he says. \u201cIt could be a few minutes, or 20 minutes, but that can set a whole new precedent. If you have a dog, or a buddy to grab a coffee with, then take a stroll and talk about anything else. When you come back you\u2019re refreshed, and you feel like solving problems in a different light.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Take  Your Work Space Seriously<\/h4>\n

It\u2019s all too easy for home workers to focus so narrowly on their job that they ignore everything else. And without the psychological remove of a commute to and from the office, it\u2019s easy for work to take over your home environment. For Saunders, who\u2019s worked from various home spaces over the years, it helps to create a clear divide.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDraw a line between where you eat, sleep, watch TV, relax and see your friends, and your work space,\u201d he says. \u201cFor me it was a desk that was either in my bedroom, or in my most recent apartment in the corner of my living room. That\u2019s where my work was. If it was a Sunday or a late night I could move over to the sofa and work on my Macbook, but actually having a desktop computer – however old school that sounds – felt like I was, not tied down, but definitely in a work environment.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Joshua
Joshua Saunders workspace<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Treat it as an official business, because it\u2019s a company you\u2019re running there<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Kolodziey is also familiar with this, as she works from a desk space in her bedroom. To create some separation she\u2019s divided the space up into two zones, using a bookshelf as a \u201cvisual border.\u201d The illustrator emphasises the importance of taking your work space seriously, so it feels like a proper studio, rather than just an occasionally used table.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTreat it as an official business, because it\u2019s a company you\u2019re running there,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s good to give it that respect, and also for your body to have the same respect where you find the yin and yang of feeling comfortable but still being at work.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Nadine
Nadine Kolodziey photographed by Camilo Brau<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Staying Connected<\/h4>\n

Of course, however carefully you plan your workspace, one of the biggest challenges of working from home is the feelings of loneliness it can prompt. For Saunders, social media can be a good way to maintain connections with others, while Kolodziey prefers real life meetups. She suggests freelancers consider their home as more of a base, and plan meetings around that.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Joshua
Joshua Saunders Everpress x Amnesty design<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI really like to exchange with people and get different perspectives, or talk about something completely different from my field or area,\u201d she says. \u201cIf I have appointments with partners or collaborators I don\u2019t feel that lonely. It\u2019s a bit more dynamic. Working from home for me means meeting other people in a working space or cafe to plan a project or discuss progress.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ultimately, working away from an office is a fact of life for many self-employed creatives, designers and artists. By dividing your space carefully, creating a workable timetable, and adding rituals that help structure to your day, <\/span>you can enjoy the freedom of remote working, without feeling that work is taking over your life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Catch the last article in our \u2018How To\u2019 series? If not, read it here: How To Handle Creative Compromise<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’ve previously looked at how to go about getting your first commission and how to handle creative compromise once you\u2019ve started out, now we turn our focus to the ups and downs of working from home as a freelancer.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":6588,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[138],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6210"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6210"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12997,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6210\/revisions\/12997"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}