WEBVTT - Don't make this work-from-home mistake

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>This week, we're talking about strategies for making remote work

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<v Speaker 1>efficient and effective. Today's tip is about setting boundaries when

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<v Speaker 1>you work from home. Disconnecting can be hard when your

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<v Speaker 1>work is right where you live, but breaks make us

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<v Speaker 1>more productive and are definitely worth taking. So I've found

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<v Speaker 1>over the years that when managers have concerns about employees

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<v Speaker 1>working from home, they're often worrying that people will spend

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<v Speaker 1>their entire work days watching old episodes of Game of Thrones.

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<v Speaker 1>But when these same managers wind up at organizations where

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<v Speaker 1>lots of people work from home, they learned that the

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<v Speaker 1>biggest problem is entirely different. People who work from home

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<v Speaker 1>often have trouble disconnecting. Then they wind up getting burned

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<v Speaker 1>out and their performance suffers, or they quit. Neither of

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<v Speaker 1>these are good outcomes. Here's what winds up happening. People

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<v Speaker 1>who work from home want to show their managers and

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<v Speaker 1>teammates that they're responsive, but then they wind up on

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<v Speaker 1>email or slack constantly. They don't take breaks because they

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<v Speaker 1>don't want their managers to think they're watching TV. One

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<v Speaker 1>woman who works from home told me that she'd hired

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<v Speaker 1>a dog walker because she didn't think she could step

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<v Speaker 1>away from her desk for ten minutes twice a day

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<v Speaker 1>to take the dog outside. Needless to say, if she

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<v Speaker 1>didn't think ten minute breaks were feasible, she was dealing

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<v Speaker 1>with a lot of stress. Then there's this problem. Commutes

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<v Speaker 1>can be terrible, but they provide a very clear line

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<v Speaker 1>between work time and non work time. When your office

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<v Speaker 1>is right next to your kitchen or bedroom, it can

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<v Speaker 1>be very easy to just keep going back in all

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<v Speaker 1>evening or all weekend long. I know this has happened

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<v Speaker 1>to me. I have a confession here. Because I work

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<v Speaker 1>from a home office and working is almost always an option,

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<v Speaker 1>I used to just leave my laptop on. I literally

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<v Speaker 1>never shut it down. Then one day last summer, the

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<v Speaker 1>laptop simply stopped working, which is understandable. I managed to

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<v Speaker 1>get it going again, but I realized I needed to

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<v Speaker 1>stop overwhelming it. My laptop could use some time when

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<v Speaker 1>work was not an option, and I probably could too,

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<v Speaker 1>So I've gotten much better about turning it off at night.

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<v Speaker 1>Once it's off, I can turn it back on if

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<v Speaker 1>I really need something, and I have my phone too,

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<v Speaker 1>so it's not like I'm unplugged from the world, but

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<v Speaker 1>it raises the bar on answering an email that can

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<v Speaker 1>really wait until the next morning. If you struggle with

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<v Speaker 1>these boundaries, you might try creating some sort of break

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<v Speaker 1>to indicate that the day is done. Indeed, you might

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<v Speaker 1>create a fake commute, walk around the block, or run

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<v Speaker 1>a quick errand to buy milk or put gas in

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<v Speaker 1>your car when you come home. Then you can be

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<v Speaker 1>a non work mode. Most things can wait until tomorrow.

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<v Speaker 1>We may think the world will stop spinning without our input,

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<v Speaker 1>but you know what, it's probably not the case. What

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<v Speaker 1>kind of boundaries will you set if you work remotely?

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<v Speaker 1>Take some time today to think about this, and in

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<v Speaker 1>the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's

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<v Speaker 1>to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd

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<v Speaker 1>love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,

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<v Speaker 1>your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,

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<v Speaker 1>and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod that's b E the

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<v Speaker 1>number four then breakfast p o D. You can also

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<v Speaker 1>shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeart

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<v Speaker 1>media dot com That before Breakfast is spelled out with

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<v Speaker 1>all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to

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<v Speaker 1>staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I

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<v Speaker 1>heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit

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