Working remotely introduces new stressors like reduced social contact, communication challenges, technology headaches, blurred home and work boundaries, and ergonomic issues.

However, some mindset and habit adjustments can make home based work energising rather than exhausting.

Here are 20 pretty straightforward ways to combat stress as you work remotely…

20 Easy Tips To Manage Stress While Working At Home:

1. Define Your Goals Each Day

Without the structure of an office, regularly ask yourself “what are the most important outcomes that need to be achieved today“, and assign realistic priority tasks accordingly.

Having clear daily objectives and ticking off goals provides a sense of order amid the potential chaos of distractions at home.

2. Make A Dedicated Workspace

Trying to work from bed or a couch gets uncomfortable fast, causing burnout and aches.

Set up a proper workstation with an ergonomic chair at a kitchen or dining table allowing space to spread out devices comfortably.

Keep your setup consistent day to day.

Don’t contort yourself makeshift.

3. Start And End Days With Uplifting Routines

Bookend stressful desk sessions with comforting rituals easing transitions into work mode and signalling relaxation at day’s end.

Perhaps play energising music to begin while closing out crunching numbers by getting fresh air on a favourite podcast.

Custom comforts lift the mood.

4. Find Digital Tools For Common Tasks

Leverage handy technology to make home based work efficient like: video conferencing, file sharing, brainstorming whiteboards, virtual pin up boards, and time tracking widgets that are reducing tedious tasks.

Building little time savers gradually adds up to less stress.

For example, converting a PDF to Word doc is the kind of thing that shouldn’t be a hassle.

You can find tools to help take the headache out of this task.

Smallpdf offers quick conversion without email, and you can convert on any operating system.

They can help you to save time and keep those stress levels down.

5. Build Physical Microbreaks Into Your Day

Rest your body and mind by incorporating brief five minute breaks between intense activity blocks: stretching away from your desk, grabbing tea, or just staring out a window.

Short pauses to change focal length relieve eye and mental strain promoting endurance versus dragging by afternoon.

6. Leave The House Each Morning

Preserving some separation between work and off hours keeps home from feeling like just one endless extension of the job site.

Take a quick stroll outside before sitting down or at lunch.

The context change cueing location shift reduces monotony providing needed mental breathers.

7. Socialise Proactively With Colleagues

Without bumping into co workers casually to vent or banter, independent workers feel siloed easily, escalating anxiety.

Set up occasional video coffees, virtual lunches or after work team chats allowing natural conversations unrelated to projects.

Human check ins beat isolation.

8. Set Firm Boundaries Around Availability

Establish work hours you stick to except in emergencies, and mute distracting incoming communications like email notifications beyond those times.

Pushing back against demands encroaching on off duty life prevents burnout and resentment over infringed personal time.

9. Use A Separate Browser For Non Work Sites

Designate a web browser solely for accessing social media, shopping sites and other personal pages.

Using distinct apps compartmentalises worlds preventing immersed work from constantly being side tracked by distraction tabs a click away from the same browser.

10. Leverage Smart Home Devices For Reminders

Have Alexa, Google Nest or Siri set audible reminders for routine home office tasks like sending progress reports and syncs you might forget without visual prompts.

Voice assistants integrate calendars, to do lists and alarms keeping you responsively on track.

11. Assign Challenging Priorities Early

Tackle mentally taxing projects requiring deep focus early when energy and motivation run highest, before drained handling a stream of messages.

Use mornings for strategic priorities, creative work, and tough decisions without the distractions you’ll face midday.

12. Build Regular Movement Into Your Day

Between back to back video calls, it’s easy to remain sedentary for hours straining your body.

Set phone alarms nudging you for overhead shoulder stretches.

Little movements make sitting for extended periods less taxing in the long term.

13. Play Ambient Background Sounds

Reduce noisy construction sites or traffic interruptions hindering concentration with apps generating customisable ambient noise like the rainfall that promotes absorption in tasks without blaring distractions.

Calming water sounds increases productivity.

14. Encourage Clients To Schedule Calls

Unplanned interruptions disrupt remote work rhythms and thinking momentum.

Ask clients to calendar meeting times so you allocate attention appropriately and don’t burn out multi tasking.

Batching appointments also minimises disruptive context switching between various requests.

15. Designate An Office “Closing Manager”

To avoid overworking without hard stops, assign someone like your child, partner or chatbot to alert you when it’s late and insist equipment gets powered off so you detach fully.

Having a designated office “closer” overrides your tendency to endless work given home proximity.

16. Set Mini Deadlines Throughout Days

Self imposed mini deadlines build task urgency, create a sense of progress, and prevent spiralling anxiously over a long list of everything that must eventually get done today.

Give yourself attainable hourly targets that need to be checked off even if arbitrary.

Forward motion calms.

17. Curate Wardrobe Elements That Lift Your Mood

Gather favourite house clothes bringing comforts like oversized jumpers, vibrant scrunch socks and quirky slippers.

Keep an arsenal of spirit lifting comforts nearby for slipping into when video calls end providing reliable pick me ups out of professional attire.

18. Define Your Productive Hours

Determine when you operate optimally: are you an effective early bird, night owl or afternoon focuser?

Align your most taxing responsibility blocks like strategizing new campaigns to high energy spans when you comfortably get in the working flow.

Schedule less brain taxing admin tasks opposingly.

19. Build An Inspiration Board Near Your Desk

Surrounding your workspace with motivating quotes, celebratory cards, or artwork you find uplifting reinforces the purpose of staying diligent on those tough remote days.

Visual prompts affirm why you work hard and what brings meaning when energy flags.

20. Work with a Productivity Coach

Remember that even though you might feel isolated at home, you are not alone.

There are many people working and managing their businesses from home.

However, the tempo of working from home might differ and it might impact your productivity.

That’s why it’s smart to hire a productivity coach to help you maximize your potential while working from home.

You can find your ideal match within our growing database of experts.

What You Should Remember?

While remote work necessitates more proactive stress management, small habitual additions like healthier buffers around working hours, frequent movement breaks, ambient soundscapes and visual motivators make home offices healthier and more inspiring places to pencil push productively.

Get tactical tweaking of your unique environment.