The 5 Tips to Avoid WFH Burnout
Real talk: I’m bad at a lot of stuff. For starters, I’m a terrible back seat driver. My husband always jokes that I’m still driving from the passenger seat…driving him insane! 🥁😁 I’m also total shit at golf, have horrible impulse control when ordering off a menu, god awful at geography, forget people’s names within 5 secs of meeting them, and I couldn’t distance run if my life depended on it.
You know what I’m also crap at? Setting boundaries. Especially when it comes to remote work. And you know what happens when you suck at setting boundaries? Good ole burnout. 🫠
That’s right folks…I’m not great at not burning out.
Now you’re probably thinking, “Then why is this post your 5 tips to not burnout? Stands to reason that I probably shouldn’t take advice from you on this topic.
Fair point. But as I see it that’s exactly why I’m the perfect person to give this advice…I know first hand what's gotten me to that point and the good habits I need to have in place to avoid it.
Also, I didn’t say anything about being good at following through on my recommendations 😉. I just know when I do implement them, they work. So as long as you have more will power than me (odds are in your favor 😂) and stick with them, they will drastically decrease the chances of experiencing real burnout. And if they don’t just blame me, that’s what I do.
1. No work apps on your personal device.
I’m starting with the one I think is most important…If possible, do not keep work apps, like slack or work email, on your phone. I know some of you are rolling your eyes and thinking, “That’s ridiculous. I need to be connected to do my job properly.” On the contrary, you’d probably be a better employee if you didn’t do this. Allow me to elaborate.
I was once like you. I thought what an engaged, dedicated employee I was for allowing my team to have 24hr access to me. No matter what time, where I was going, or what I was doing I would respond to every ping, every email, every slack, urgently and always. Holy toxicity, Batman!
I thought removing the apps from my phone meant I would be less present at work, and people would notice. Not to mention the intense FOMO, amirite?! But the opposite happened…Since I could no longer get notifications on my phone, it made it necessary for me to be at my computer during my working hours. Before I would try to work and run my personal life at the same time. If a message popped up on my phone, I would drop what I was doing and attend to it. I was constantly living this scattered, frantic existence where there were no boundaries between work & life. Trying to be engaged in both at the same time made me a less engaged employee, because “To do two things at once is to do neither.”
Bottom line: Having work apps on your personal device means that you never leave work. I don’t know about you, but I’m not getting paid enough to work 24hrs a day. Trust me, delete them...it’ll be all right.
2. Set working hours and stick to them.
Working from home is about flexibility, so when I say “set working hours,” I’m not referring to the typical 9-5, unless that’s what’s required for your job. But if you have the flexibility to set your own hours, be realistic about when those hours are. For example, you’re a new parent who can afford all-day childcare 2-3x a week, but the other days you have to get a bit creative. You’ve realized on non-daycare days, with the exception of the few hours during nap time, you’re not getting quality work time. It’s only after dinner is cooked and the kids are asleep, that you can really focus. For this reason, you decide you will schedule all your team work and meetings on M/W/F when the kids are in daycare, and all your solo/heads down work will be achieved on T/TH during nap time and after hours. Once you have set these hours make sure of 2 things:
Be transparent about them with your team and family. I find when you set clear boundaries, people are mindful and respectful of abiding by them, but they have to know they exist first. 😉
Be intentional, not rigid about keeping hours. Life is messy. Our situations and emotions are in a constant state of flux, especially when you’re a parent or caregiver. No doubt your availability is going to shift. When possible anticipate those changes, and accommodate them, but don’t be too hard on yourself when you can’t. Remaining intentional about not routinely working outside of those shifts is enough.
Bottom Line: There will always be exceptions. The risk of burnout only happens when you start letting those exceptions outnumber the rules. Safeguard your time.
3. Make time for a “lunch break.”
This one was actually inspired by a workplace influencer named Erin McGoff. Erin writes a blog called Advice With Erin, with really great tips and tricks around interviewing, resume creation, and just work practices in general. In this short she talks about the WFH trick she uses to disconnect on her lunch break. She will either have lunch in silence without her phone; or eat while watching tv. The caveat with the t.v. option is the show must be educational.
I connected with this piece of advice because this is another thing I’m really bad at. Most wfh days lunch is an afterthought for me. I’ll get in the zone and either rationalize skipping it, or just forget about it all together. Before I know it, it’s 4pm and I’m wondering why I'm super cranky and biting my kids heads off. Other days I’ll try to be good. Convince myself that making my lunch in a frenzy and eating it hunched over my keyboard, is progress. 🤦🏼♀️
When I saw this video I decided to employ her tactic. This small change of taking a ½ hour to disconnect and reset, was a game changer! I have to be honest though, I didn’t take the advice about the educational programming. I’m kind of a glutton for trashy reality tv. But I figured like any sustainable change I have to make it fit for me.
Bottom line: No matter what you try, what you eat, how you break…just make sure to take a break! You’re not a robot. 🦾🤖
(Thank you for this one, Erin! I love your content. 💗 ( p.s. Crazy similarity between our brand names right?! We should chat. 😉)
4. Create a dedicated space for work.
Along with when and how you work, you also need to be mindful of where you work. This might be a funny example but, you need to find a dedicated space for work in your home for similar reasons as potty training a puppy. If you don’t establish a specific area for a puppy to go to the bathroom, then your whole house becomes the bathroom. He’ll go wherever he needs to, at whatever time he needs to. But if you have a puppy zone, then the puppy will get used to using that area only for the bathroom, and not be in there when they don’t need to be. Same applies with working from home. You need a clear separation between your home and where you do your business, or else you chance your business contaminating your whole life. Which we have learned starts us down the road to burnout.
Bottom line: Whether it’s a fold-out desk in your apartment, a makeshift cubicle in your living room, or a spare bedroom turned office, you need a designated space where you can leave work at work.
5. Take a walking call.
This is one has become a favorite practice. In advance of a call with someone I know will support it, I tell them I’ll be taking the call while I take a walk. Obviously pick a call that doesn’t require you to view any info, take any notes or needs to be recorded. Town halls or employee all-hands tend to be great candidates for walking calls, as they normally don’t require you to participate, or at least you know in advance if you will need to. Not only are walking calls a great way to change up your day, but I find I pay closer attention to the person I’m talking with. There can be so many distractions in your homes & offices that can affect your focus on a call. But when you’re outside walking there’s nothing to draw your attention away. All you need to do is walk, talk and listen. Almost like listening to a podcast.
Bottom line: Being chained to a desk all day will make you hate working from home. Even if it’s not a walking call, figure out something that changes up the scenery every once and awhile.
Bonus: It can be really nice to scrap the video call and take it to an old school phone call. Maybe it’s my geriatric millennial talking, but I find phone calls to be so warm and personal. It reminds me of simpler times. 🧓 😉
I leave you with this…
Like I said, I’m notoriously terrible at setting and maintaining boundaries. I work on it daily and I still get it wrong…like, all the time. But to my credit, I’ve greatly improved at identifying my toxic habits. Which makes me uniquely positioned to help you. 🙂
Bottom line: WFH burnout happens when you don’t establish the boundaries necessary to keep your work life separate from your actual life. Implementing these tips, even inconsistently, has helped me do that. I encourage you to give them a shot. It can be hard to strike a balance when working from home, why not give yourself an advantage?
I don’t know all! If you have a unique strategy to avoid the🔥 , I would love to hear it! Feel free to leave a comment on this post or shoot me an email from my Let’s Chat page! Hope to hear from you!
