It’s been a while since I wrote one of these, but I was inspired by a few recent conversations. I’ve been talking with my friends about what working from home has been like, and it seems like many of us are getting fatigued by the whole thing. It seems like one of the causes is that working from home makes it hard to draw the line between the personal and work, especially since we are encouraged not to go out if possible.
A lot of articles use the word “burnout”, which I don’t think we’re experiencing (yet), but I found the tips from this HBR review to be helpful. I think the tips on maintaining a 9-5 as much as possible and to focus on the most important work (instead of trying to do everything) to be particularly helpful.
On a related note, I think this WFH fatigue is related to coronavirus fatigue. Or perhaps they’re one and the same. Singapore is slowly opening up, but even as we go back to normal, everything we do is accompanied by the constant worry that we could be exposing ourselves to infection. It’s a tiring way to live but it’s the safer way to live – if we didn’t have this worry, I suspect we’d be doing a lot more reckless things (just like how WFH is the safe thing to do, but it’s also mentally tiring).
On an unrelated note, I really like this post on Core Beliefs by Whitney Goodman:
It reminds me the concept of replacing negative thought patterns that is used in CBT, only with a different name. I like the list of negative core beliefs and suggested replacements – definitely something to use if I find myself thinking this way!
This has been a bit of a meandering post but I hope you enjoyed it. I’m looking for article and book recommendations to deal with these topics (both the fatigue and the core beliefs). My TBR list is, as always, overflowing but I will definitely make some room for books on this!
I’ve read some of the advice about the need to keep work and personal separate while working from home. It’s very much harder to do in some ways than others. Interestingly enough, most of the people in my workplace prefer working from home to being in the office. Of course, we (my coworkers and I) are in a slightly different situation because we do work in the office to some extent still, on a rotating basis. I think for me personally, the biggest challenge is the boundaries between work and parenting. I have to do both at the same time. And when school starts up again next week with virtual learning, well, we’ll have to see how that goes.
One thing I think the article you shared on touches on (just a bit differently–but it relates) one of the issues I have. Since everything is online when I’m working from home, I have e-mails, Skype messages, phone calls, and what have you always coming at me. I’ll be in the middle of something and see a Skype message come in and feel a panic that I need to deal with that right away, and if I’m not careful, I’m then trying to do ten things at once and feeling frazzled. I do my best to triage as best I can and prioritize. I’ve gotten better at it, but I still have my moments. When I’m in the office, I still have all of that coming in at once, but there’s just something different about the environment that makes it easier to juggle. At home I feel I feel like I’m in a bubble, whereas that feeling doesn’t exist in the office.
I definitely feel coronavirus fatigue. It’s hard because I see so many of my extended family members and friends posting on FB about how they are traveling and going out, and my family is still locked up inside except for essentials. I find myself wondering if I’m being too paranoid or overly cautious. My mom will ask something and I just know she’s questioning why we are still so isolated. I remind myself though that the COVID-19 numbers where I am are still skyrocketing, and maybe it isn’t where my relatives and freinds are. And I hear all the chatter from locals who aren’t taking the virus seriously, and it makes me more wary about being out and about among them.I hate being so isolated, but I also want to be safe.
I am queen negative talker. LOL I do that trick too where when I catch myself being too down on myself, I tell myself (sometimes out loud) to stop. And then I start with the positive talk. It usually snaps me out of it, although not always. I am trying to teach my daughter how to switch from negative to positive because sometimes she can be hard on herself too.
Sorry for going on and on. Haha. I hope you have a great day, Eustacia. Stay safe and well.
Thanks for sharing so honestly, Wendy! I definitely know how you feel about whether we’re being too cautious or not – I definitely want to go back to daily life but I don’t want to do anything that would help spread this and it gets really hard to tell what is a sensible caution when people are acting in extremes (totally not caring or scared of everything)
I hope you manage to find some techniques to separate parenting and work. The feeling of needing to answer every email and message immediately is real! I don’t have any good strategies because I tend to read all work emails once they come in, but I hope you can make it work!!
I think maintaining balance can be very difficult. I know some people still get up every day and put on their work clothes and sit down at their computer, and basically try to keep their regular routine. I’m not at that level, but I try conscientiously to only work during my designated hours. Once those are up, I shut everything down. It can be tempting to keep going, but I’m not being paid to sit there all day, so I don’t. But I have heard from other people that they find themselves working more than they think they would if they were in the office.
On the other hand, I think when you actually have to go to work, you aren’t working all the time. There’s a lot of chatting with coworkers or pretending to look busy because there’s actually nothing to do, but you aren’t allowed to leave. Working from home removes those distractions, and, so, I think if you are dedicated to working all your normal hours, you will find that you seem to be doing more because you don’t necessarily have anything to break up the day.
Then there’s the whole issue of caring for children/schooling at home while working. And, yeah, you’re definitely working more if you’re doing all that!
Good point about how much we work at when we’re at the office!!
I’ve got a lot of friends who’ve mentioned that WFH means they’re more likely to skip lunch/push back dinner in order to finish some work. Those are the friends who can’t wait to go back to the office. I’ve got others who never want to go back, so clearly being able to separate home from work (at least mentally) plays a big part in whether WFH works for you!
I think a really important thing for mental fatigue is to keep your work and your rest separate. I have had to live with my parents rn and so I have a desk in my room, right next to my bed. It’s really made a negative impact and I miss being able to be in a separate room to work. I’m not sure if you’re doing that already but it might be something to implement. I hope you’re doing okay.
I’m currently working in the living room, which is not so bad but my home is pretty open-plan so what I’m really missing is a place to call my own :p
Oooff yeah that’ll do it! If you have a balcony/garden/patio that could be an option weather depending?