WFH-paranoia and advise on how to deal with the feelings of insecurity that come with it.

Why WFH is more emotionally draining than ever…

A recent study conducted by Stanford has shown that working from home is not as secure and relaxing as we think it is. According to the study, employees who work remotely have higher levels of stress, lower levels of productivity and less satisfaction with their work than those who don’t. Perhaps the reason for such a result is the fact that all too often, employees working from home find themselves doing things that don’t pertain to work. They surf the web, check emails, and do personal tasks during work hours. This, of course, makes them feel guilty and increases levels of stress substantially. It is no wonder a lot of companies are reducing or eliminating WFH altogether. Many employees have already received emails from their employers asking them to go back to regular office timings as WFH was causing more problems than they expected. To be honest, we are not really surprised by the results of this study. We tend to believe that working from home relieves us from stress as it allows us to relax and avoid confrontation with co-workers. While the truth is that we don’t solve any problems, we simply run away from them.

And the stress continues to build-up…

Many of us end up in situations where our bosses or clients are expecting results from us, and yet we must work on a project for which we do not meet all the requirements. Moreover, work delivered by us is not always as timely as it should be. We would love our projects to be perfect, so it would take ages to deliver them. Often, they are late, incomplete, or both. Therefore, we feel stressed because we are giving our employers something that is not up to their expectations. We feel insecure as time is slipping through our hands and deadlines are nearing. And finally, we end up with a feeling of being overwhelmed by all the things we need to do and with no way of doing them in the most satisfactory way. All this increases stress levels substantially.

Overcoming WFH-caused emotional insecurities…

Well, remote working has not always been a villain, until lately. Let’s see the flipside—working from home can be very productive if you use it correctly. Carefully select the place where you are going to work. Do not overload your schedule with dozens of tasks. Try to eliminate the stressors that might cause insecurity and try to find a perfect balance between the time spent on work and on personal matters. However, all too often, we try to fit a square peg into a round hole and ultimately fail miserably at both things: work and personal life.

Tips to be more emotionally secure while WFH

Be assured that with this mutual insecure feeling about WFH, you’ll just be fine. No one should have to feel confident all the time about every aspect of their lives! But when you’re juggling a home-based business or working remotely for your employer, it can be especially difficult to know how to get past those negative feelings. So, what are you going to do? Avoiding WFH is not an option. We need to learn how to use it properly or try a different kind of work environment to relieve stress and feel more emotionally secure about our work. Well, you can continue to read, at least! This article is an attempt to help anyone who is having a hard time finding their feet in the world of home-based work or business. Here are five tips that will help you make remote working work for you.

1. Know What You’re Missing Out On

Before you start or continue working from home or from different places, you need to know what you’re missing out on. There are certain things that you will enjoy having at work and will get more done when you don’t have to bother about commuting for an hour or sitting in the office all day. Have a look at your professional life and figure out what kinds of things are important to you. You must focus on what the work permits.

2. Create A Daily Ritual That Makes You Feel Good

When you WFH, there’s less time to lose yourself in the flow and focus on what you’re doing. That’s why you need to find a way to be productive when you sit down at your desk and start working, so that the day will go by faster. A daily routine or ritual helps in that.

 3. Schedule Your Work For The Right Time And Place

If you don’t have anything scheduled for later in the day or early in the morning, it’s very easy to fall behind on your tasks. When you work from home, you’ll also be tempted to take a nap or walk the dog instead of doing anything productive. If that happens, your day will be gone, and it will be harder to get going in the evening. That’s why you need to have something scheduled for the afternoon and not think about working until then. Only after you’ve done your scheduled task can you relax or watch Netflix without feeling guilty.

4. Be Explicit About What You Have To Offer

We’ve talked about the importance of the right schedule. But it’s also important to be explicit about what you have to offer. That way, if people ask you what your skills are, they’ll get an idea of how they can benefit from working with you. Take that bunch of skills and abilities and boil them down to one simple sentence, and you’ll never be misallocated to projects.

5. Accept Constructive Criticism

The best way to keep yourself from getting into a rut and constantly feeling bad about yourself is to get used to taking constructive criticism. There are tons of ways to get constructive criticism, and the best way is to ask for it. If you’ve done your best with something, someone will always be able to point out what could have been done better. You can’t please everyone, so avoid taking it personally when someone gives you a piece of their mind. This doesn’t mean you failed.

Wrapping Up

Today, more and more people are choosing to work remotely at home, in coffee shops, and other places. And it’s not just the millennials either—anyone can be found working remote nowadays. This trend has become so popular that you may have recently started thinking of doing it yourself. But with all the perks come some downsides. When you work from home, or just from different places in general, you tend to feel lonely and disconnected. You miss the daily interactions with your colleagues, and you can’t help but feel that your contribution is not as valuable as it used to be. The overall emotional impact is lower self-esteem and more anxiety. While this not-so-new way of working can bring more benefits than drawbacks, it will require some adjustments. We have made our suggestions, let us know in the comment box how you deal with WFH-caused emotional insecurities!   About SNS: Secure Network Solutions India ( SNS ) provides a quantifiable, risk-based approach to build cyber security based on globally recognized frameworks and standards. We have been protecting business for the last 20 years! Write to us at [email protected].