How to Disconnect from Your Job While Working from Home

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Achieving a work-life balance is difficult. Doing so while working from home seems nearly impossible. While there are countless benefits to working from home, one of the biggest disadvantages is navigating the journey to a balanced life. Doing work when it’s time for work, and doing anything else at any other time.

If you’re struggling to unplug and reach a balance while working from home, you’re not alone. Millions of employees working from home are walking a similar path. Below are four tips to disconnect from your job while working from home.

Set expectations

Before accepting the position for the role I’m currently in, I made it my mission to express my value for family and personal time. As a mom, I explained to my managers that while I am more than willing to jump in during emergencies, my availability would be Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. A year later, these expectations are respected, a critical step to disconnecting while working from home.

Implement physical boundaries

Setting boundaries when you work from home is a lot more difficult than when you have the physical boundaries of office space. However, this can easily be achieved by assigning designated workspaces and respecting those areas. For example, I know that whenever I sit in my office, I’m working. If I’m not planning on working, I remove myself from that area and pick a different space to be.

Avoid work electronics

While I keep my work phone handy during office hours, I avoid it at any other time. This might be a critical step if you like to tackle assignments as they come in. Of course, emergencies come up, and sometimes your attention is needed immediately. In these cases, I’ve given my immediate supervisors my personal cellphone where they can reach me at any time. Until now, I’m happy to announce this hasn’t been necessary.

Prioritize doing things you love

While avoiding my home office space and ignoring my work electronics help me unplug from my job while working from home, nothing has been as impactful as the simple idea of prioritizing the things I love. Whether it’s thrifting, working out, or spending time with my husband and daughter, putting things above work has helped me focus on the things in front of me instead of the million to-dos that will still be there when I return.