There are a lot of challenges that can come with working from home, as is the case for many people currently living through the quarantine. Avoiding distractions, balancing your work and home life, finding your most productive times to work. These are all real issues. However, there’s one that goes a little under-discussed and that is boredom. Here, we’re going to look at how boredom affects your work and what you can do about it.
Make better use of your time
One of the reasons that you might be getting bored is that you’re spending too many hours of the day on just one task when you could be making better use of your time. For instance, if part of your responsibilities includes taking care of the bookkeeping, then looking at numbers for hours on end will naturally become a grind. You can break up the grind by breaking your time up into blocks throughout the day, making sure that you’re switching tasks often enough to keep yourself engaged with work. Not only will it make you less bored, but it will also help you find your most productive work methods.
Put some sounds on
The work environment can very much dictate your emotional state as you’re working. This includes what you’re hearing and listening to. If you only have daytime television or the sounds of people throughout the home, this can prove quite a distracting and boring environment. Set up a great sound system with sites like Maxyourhometime and find playlists that can help you get into the zone. For working, it’s best to try and find music that doesn’t lean too heavily on vocals or melodies, which can be distracting.
Get active
Your energy levels are going to start flagging after a while. Making sure you get lunch can help you re-energize, but it’s important to keep your blood pumping as well. Fitting a fifteen to twenty-minute exercise routine in at some point during the workday is highly recommended. The rush of endorphins can help you naturally improve your mood and make you much more motivated to work. It’s also important to get up and stretch roughly every hour. If you’re experiencing back or joint pain as a result of being too sedentary, that’s naturally going to affect our work mood.
Make sure you talk to someone
One of the things that prevent boredom in most workplaces is the company that we keep. A five or ten-minute chat, a shared lunch break, these things might seem like a small factor in workplace satisfaction but they can a profound impact on our sense of isolation. Find a colleague, a friend, or a family member that you can schedule a chat with, and use video chat tools like Talky to enjoy a bit of a break with them.
Though it might not seem like ti’s particularly crucial upon first glance, staying mentally active and motivated is crucial for performing better at your work. Tackle your boredom and get energized and your work will see the benefits.
