The more you will try to be happy working from home, the harder it will become to be happy working from home.
I am not trying to be pessimistic; I am trying to be realistic.
During the challenging times that we are going through, too many people are trying to adapt too fast. Too many people are trying to be as productive as they were working at the office. Too many people are trying to be as happy as they were working at the office.
That’s not attainable right away.
Why?
Sudden change in the environment and the process
Out of nowhere, we are locked down at home, a place where we are not used to be working in, and we used to work with different tools in diffrent dynamics. Consequently, It is inhuman to be as comfortable as you were working at the office at least for a while
Fear of the unknown
Suddenly, the future became so unpredictable and blurry, especially regarding our businesses and careers. We don’t know if we are going to lose our jobs or not. Even if we didn’t, are our salaries going to be impacted? How are we going to communicate with our managers or employees? The problem is that we can’t stop thinking about all that.
These above two reasons cause 5 symptoms that we are suffering from when we are working from home:
Overthinking
We overthink everything; our future, our daily tasks, our productivity, and other concerns, all related to employment and financial security.
Confusion
We are confused about what is the right thing to do now. Should we start making a side business or should we wait? Should we start looking for another job or should we wait? Should we invest in something or should we wait?
Intense emotions
You may be experiencing some anxiety or despair since the beginning of this lockdown. These emotions may affect the way you perform at work.
Muscles contractions
These emotions may lead to uneasiness in your muscles, especially in your shoulders and overall tension in your muscles.
Less productivity
All of the above reasons will lead to a weak and inconsistent performance at work.
So that is the problem, and we all know it, but what can we do about it?
Before we can talk about the solutions and how we can be happier working from home, let’s agree on two principles:
You can’t stumble on happiness
As Daniel Gilbert said in his book “Stumbling on Happiness,” you cannot stumble on happiness, and you have to make some effort to be happy. Misery is comfortable, happiness is not.
Happiness is like taking care of your body
If I told you that I want to take care of my body, how will you respond? Eat a balanced healthy diet, sleep for 6 to 8 hours per day, exercise 3 times a week, stop smoking, and so many other things that I should be doing and other stuff that I should stop doing. Happiness is the same; it is the combination of a lot of activities and mindsets that you should start doing and developing, and a bunch of other activities that you should stop doing.
Now, as we agreed on these two principles, we can start the journey of happiness at work from home.
It Gets Messy Before It Gets Organized
The first thing you should know when it comes to working from home is, it gets messy before it gets organized. While you were working at the office, you had a well-established routine, and suddenly everything changed, so it is not reasonable to expect the same systematic structure once you start working from home. Give yourself time, and before you know it, you will establish a new personal routine at your home, but don’t rush it.
And don’t force it as well. Working from home gives you flexibility. The 30 to 90 minutes you used to spend commuting to work can now be spent exercising, or reading a couple of pages from a totally irrelevant book before you actually start getting into your work tasks and emails. This will wake up your brain cells and gets you to start the day in a better mood.
You can even just spend few hours during day time focusing on tasks that require timely actions or teamwork, and move the rest of the tasks that require you solely to another more convenient time. You have more control now over the structure and flow of the business day.
Sooner or later, your convenient personal daily routine will shape itself.
Practice Mindfulness at Home
Secondly, mindfulness at work from home will bring you a lot of peace and happiness, but what is mindfulness and how can we practice it at work from home?
Mindfulness is fully paying attention to the present moment unjudgmentally. How can we do that if our minds are most of the time wandering somewhere else.
Sometimes you are not HERE, that’s like when you are physically at home and you are thinking about the workplace, or physically at the workplace and thinking about home.
And sometimes you are not in the NOW, you are either thinking about the future and what will happen tomorrow with your job, money, family, or whatever. Or, you are thinking about the past and how it went wrong, or how you screwed up.
How to be here and now? How to be mindful at work?
There are so many ways to practice mindfulness in the morning before you start working, or whenever you feel the need:
1] Meditation
The simplest way to practice meditation is to sit in a quiet place and focus on your breath for 5 minutes, just listen to yourself inhale and exhale for 5 minutes.
2] Gratitude
Every morning, write down ten things or people that you are grateful for having them in your life.
These habits will help you become present in the current moment, and presence is the essence of happiness.
Finally, during these times, you have to ask yourself a critical question:
Who do you want to be in these challenging times?
Do you want to be rigid, impatient, and closed-minded, or do you want to be adaptable, flexible, patient, and open-minded?
You decide.
About the Author
Ali Zakaria is the best-selling author of the book “The Forgotten Art of Happiness – 52 ideas that will change your life”, his book joined the bestseller charts in Major bookstores. He has been following his passion for self-help and spirituality since 2005. He is a Life Coach, a Certified NLP Practitioner by the International Federation of Coaching and NLP (IFCNLP), and a certified Time Line Therapy Practitioner by the Time Line Therapy Association (TLTA). Ali also helps people write, publish, and market their books.