Work and Wellbeing: “Homework How-To”

When at work assignments are generally arranged around the products and services our employer provides.  At home, we’re the boss (most of the time). Often, we are able to set the timing and schedule of what we are going to do. Yet when “me, myself, and I” are in charge, keeping a balance in all the tasks that need to be done can be very difficult.  Relationships, competing demands, unreasonable expectations, impossible due dates—all of these can make activities at home as stressful mentally and physically as the occupation we pursue earning our paycheck.

Here are homework how-to tips to protect your wellbeing:

1. Map your “awake time” at home. Once you have a clear understanding of your availability, it is much easier to prioritize. For example, if your commute requires that you leave the house at 7 AM, on a typical workday, your morning may start at 6AM. If you return at 7PM, you might end your evening at 10:30PM. With this scenario, homework time is 60 minutes in the morning and 210 minutes in the evening. So, if you have a Wednesday like the one in this example, your commute and job hog 12 hours. As CEO of your life you are in charge of just 270 minutes.

2.  Cap your obligations.  In office situations, meetings and tasks are constantly juggled to address leadership’s expectations. In retail space, customer satisfaction is critical to closing a sale. In manufacturing places, production process requirements dictate next steps. Yet with each of these venues, conflicts are inevitable. Maybe a key partner has two commitments scheduled at the same time. Possibly a lost purchased item is no longer available. Or perhaps a manufacturing line can’t be restarted until an outage is completed. The limits are obvious. So the fact that an obligation can’t be met is communicated in a simple way. 

When it comes to work at home, you can use a similar approach. It may take practice to give this answer: “No, I can’t do this now.” But just as clients, customers, and coworkers appreciate hearing what is—and is not—possible, your loved ones do as well. When you cap your obligations during your personal time and explain why in basic terms, you are giving valuable information that family and friends can incorporate into their own planning.

3. Tap your resources. Success requires people to come together. Enterprises depend on employees, contractors, vendors, sales teams, representatives and others to create their flow of ideas, goods and services. In homework activities, it’s crucial to tap into resources as well. Create a list of all the people that you can rely on for help, and use it. Your virtual network in the online world is a starting point. And don’t forget those you may only encounter offline, too.

Map, cap, and tap your way to less stress when you are doing homework!