Working from home isn’t easy. Whether you’re dealing with kids at home or your work has just mandated that you work from home right now, you’ll have distractions around you. One of my biggest WAHM tips is to take breaks throughout the day.
This works for everyone. Kids or no, you need to take some breaks throughout the day. Stop feeling guilty for not being able to sit at a computer screen from 9 am to 5 pm.
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There’s no way you’d do that at work!
Be honest with yourself. When it comes to working at the office, there’s absolutely no way that you’d work consistently from 9 am to 5 pm. You don’t sit at your desk just working away.
Everyone takes breaks in the office. You stretch your legs to get printouts, you’ll get a drink and even make coffee for the office, or you may even take part in the office gossip. Whatever it is you’re doing, you’re not working. You’re spending time not looking at the screen and not answering the phones.
So, why are you expecting yourself to do it all now?
It’s not healthy to not take breaks
Quite honestly, trying to work from 9-5 is not healthy. Your body needs you to get up from the computer. Your eyes need you to take a break or two (or more)!
You’d get those breaks in the office, so you need to take them at home. Your employer isn’t going to want you to track every single second of every single day. At least, a good employer isn’t. Any employer that doesn’t needs to understand what the human body needs!
My recommendation is that you take five minutes away from the computer every 25 minutes. This is the Pomodoro Technique.
Now, I will admit that I can’t possibly do that. I hate being stopped at 25-minute intervals. My breaks happen every hour and I take a 10-minute break. During these breaks, I’ll help my daughters since they’re at home at the moment (not normal) or I’ll get a bit of housework done. Whatever it is, I make sure that I get up from the computer and walk around.
WAHM tips: Work at the best time for you
While you’re taking your breaks, you also need to work at a time that is best for you. This is something that many people struggle with. It’s something that I’ve most definitely struggled with over the years.
We all have our most effective times for working. For some people, that’s first thing in the morning. For others, it’s late at night.
I’m a night owl. I’ve tried for years to change that because people have told me I should. People keep telling me that I should get up at 5 am and get work done before my kids get up. And on the mornings that I wake up early naturally and can’t sleep, I certainly do that. But that doesn’t happen often.
That’s because I find it much easier to get the work done on a night. That’s when I’m most productive. I can work until 2 am or 3 am without feeling bad because that’s when I’ve always been most productive.
So, when it comes to WAHM tips and taking breaks, I also highly recommend finding the times that work best for you. This isn’t possible for everyone; I get it. Your employer may have set hours they want you to work. But more often than not, you get to choose when you work.
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I really don’t have much to say except to stop worrying about not taking breaks. When it comes to my multiple WAHM tips over the years, you’ll find that a common tip is to take breaks regularly. You will be at your most productive when you do.
