Top Tips

Prioritise

You may find yourself with additional or different work than usual. Make sure you prioritise what needs to be delivered short term and understand that you can’t do everything.

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Colleague Stories

Heather Stephen

Looking after your wellbeing at home

Over the past few months, the world of work alongside the rest of the world has drastically changed for us all. Whilst some things remain the same: Emails need answering, projects need completing; meetings need input. Other things don’t: In place of our desks, comes the kitchen table or whatever sliver of space you have managed to claim at home for yourself, your computer and your thoughts.

So how are you finding our new work-from home normal? Whether you are enjoying it or not, all of us will have good days and bad days, so here are a few things that can help us carve out a productive physical and mental space at home in this unprecedented time.

Find a routine

There is a huge amount of trust in being able to work from the comfort and safety of our own homes, but we also need to remember that we are not in normal time. It is important to set boundaries for both yourself and members of your household so that you don’t end up working for 16-hour days to fit in home-schooling and a full day at work. Set personal alarms to go for a walk, take that screen break, do a workout, head to the shop etc to ensure that your own wellbeing doesn’t take a hit whilst you are trying to do it all.

Keeping connected

It’s disorienting to lose the kind of connection we are so very used to having with colleagues, many of whom may also be close friends. Sometimes we just need that two-minute chat about an idea or what we plan to do tonight. Making time for that chat and checking in with someone is important, you might want to reach out to a colleague outside of your team or department who you haven’t heard from in a while and catch-up. Their new normal might be very different to yours but it might help you both feel like you are not quite so alone.

Be realistic

Working from home is not all sunshine and yoga pants, sometimes it can be the most distracting place. If you are starting to feel a little less motivated as we hit the two-and-a-half-month mark working from home then you may need to mix it up a little to feel re-energised. Simple changes like starting earlier in the morning if you naturally wake up early or wearing work clothes rather than joggers can completely change your mindset and help reduce sluggishness.

Keep active

Many of us will have noticed how few steps we actually do without multiple cross campus walks to meetings each day. However, one benefit to working from home is that some of us may find we have more time and energy to exercise without the distractions of the office or the exhaustion of the commute. Whether you like to break your day with a lunchtime YouTube workout or head out for a run at 5pm it is more important than ever to move your body each day to help both your mental and physical wellbeing. If you are stuck for what to do the Sports Centre have virtual running groups and Zoom workouts for staff and students to join on their Social Media accounts.

Challenge yourself

Personally and professionally. Use this time to start something new, get back into a hobby you love or complete a few online courses/ webinars linked to your sector which are often too easy to put off. Challenging yourself can be a welcome distraction to focus on when you can’t meet with family and friends, plus it also gives you something to talk about when someone asks “What have you done this week?” on the weekly Zoom call.

Most importantly though, now more than ever, we need to be kind not only to others but also to ourselves. Do what feels good and right to you. There’s no “right” way to cope with this unprecedented, truly bizarre moment in time. So instead of judging ourselves by how many miles we run or the number of work projects we have completed, let’s treat ourselves with empathy and take each day as it comes.