“Life has many ways of testing a person’s will, either by having nothing happen at all or by having everything happen all at once.”
– Paulo Coelho
How do you handle stress at work? Because whether you work in a corporate world, work from home, or own a business, stress has a way of finding a way in. But here’s the secret. There are two things that can take you from feeling overwhelmed at work to taking it all in your stride – boundaries & a convincing ‘why’ behind what you do.
Boundaries trim away all those extra things that block up your time, energy, & effort without really adding anything significant to the journey towards your goals. And being clear about & convinced with the reason behind what you do will keep you motivated facing all hurdles as challenges. If the ‘why’ tugs at your heart, all the effort will seem worthwhile.
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Working from home & feeling overwhelmed at work:
It can feel especially lonely & too serious when you work out of your home. Because working from home doesn’t always mean sitting in your PJs coffee in hand, legs on the table and TV running on mute while you scroll away on the computer. In fact, it means you like to be your own boss, are responsible enough to give results without supervision, and your home is actually your home base.
There’s still some stigma associated with working from home. When I tell someone I work from home, I generally get two types of reaction:
- “Oh, ok. So you’re actually free”.
- “Oh no, I can’t work from home! It’s way too much work! People at home expect you to do everything now that you’re at home most of the time. And professionally you’re expected to do more because you save time commuting and are sitting comfortably at home in PJs.”
But, I feel the perks of this lifestyle has started to catch on because now I’ve started getting more questions about how to keep the different roles separate & working smoothly.
If you too have these questions or are finding it tough to work from your home office, then read on. Here are the 8 things I found worked for me and for a lot of other home based professionals. See if you are missing out on any.
Feeling overwhelmed at work: 8 tips when working from home
1. Dip your toes first:
You might have heard much about how awesome ‘working without the commute’ is and it is. But the best way to find out whether it’s for you or not, try out a sample size.
Find out a couple of options you can try while continuing with your regular job. Or, if you already have an idea, give it a trial run. Try it on a small scale that you can manage along with your day job.
If you go in all at once, the situation might end up being financially awkward if things don’t work out as planned. Plus, there’s a possibility that you might miss the benefits of a 9-to-5 routine more than you like the advantages of working from your home office. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket risking the bottom falling off because the foundation wasn’t too strong.
So for example, say you want to get into freelance writing. If you have a clear idea about how and where you’re going to get clients from, go ahead with that. Take up assignments with deadlines that leave you enough time to carry on with your day job. Also, you might find something else along the way more interesting which you would like to do.
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2. Be clear about your finances:
If you are anything like me (not good for business), numbers won’t seem like your biggest friend. Finance talk simply makes me want to flash the ‘system overdrive’ message. But believe me, there’s no way around it.
When planning to start this blog, I was all excited about the designing and writing part of it. But, then I reali
Do your research well. Be clear beforehand what you are financially expecting from this change and how much you are ready to put upfront.
Also, how much cushioning do you have in case the results don’t turn out as expected. Be ruthless and assign a specific time beyond which you absolutely won’t continue if the numbers don’t make sense.
This will make sure that you stay financially safe even if your work-from-home strategy doesn’t work out as expected. Watching your bank account dry up fast is a sure way to trigger overwhelming stress and anxiety as well as blow away all motivation to keep going.
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3. Be ready to challenge your limits and learn:
If you decide to become your own boss & start a business or take up freelance work, there are a lot of things that come with it. You have to be ready to be more proactive, manage your time efficiently, create effective work-home boundaries, be responsible for your own motivation, handle marketing & finances, and so much more.
All this might make you end up feeling overwhelmed at work. But the key is to change your mindset. Be ready to learn & grow. Learn from your mistakes & not take them as indicators of your ability or inadequacy.
There will be times that challenge your limits, just as in regular jobs. But what will grow your roots deep is focusing on finding solutions than mulling over how bleak things seem. You never know what you are truly capable of unless you take that one step beyond “I can’t do it”. If you fail, there’s nothing to lose. But if you succeed, you’ve just widened your horizons in life.
That mindset will help you turn any stressful situation into an adrenaline pumping challenge that brings out the best in you.
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4. The ‘why’ behind your decisions is important:
The driving force behind your decision to work from home has to be something that speaks to you emotionally. Thoughts like no traffic hassles & no boss to answer won’t sail you through when motivation starts to dim.
Reasons that spark the desire in you to keep going no matter what because the end results are more powerful than all the obstructions, help keep you away from feeling overwhelmed at work. It could be
- spend more quality time with your child whose milestones you kept missing because of work commitments, or
- taking over family responsibilities to allow your partner more time to earn that degree which would boost their career, or
- the work you are planning to do has always been your dream, or
- any number of thoughts that matter to YOU on a deeper level.
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5. Be ready to be answerable to yourself:
Be ready not just to create your own goals, timelines, & daily to-do lists but also creating & ensuring that boundaries are respected. Because you can easily start getting overwhelmed by everyday tasks once you let others manage your time according to their needs.
You have to respect your own boundaries & learn to say no to be efficient without getting overwhelmed with stretched timelines, impractical to-do lists, & unmet deadlines. Get a clear idea of what, how much, & for how long you are willing to do before committing to anything.
It’s easy to start prioritizing your personal commitments over professional ones or letting professional commitments eat into family time. When you are your own boss, you have to become responsible for time, resource, & delivery management. Holding yourself answerable for any lag keeps both your creative & managerial roles balanced improving your productivity.
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6. Have plans in place to stay motivated:
Without coworkers to share a couple of gossips or after-work binges, life tends to become a bit dull. You WILL miss it how much ever you feel right now that it won’t be so.
A few months will make you realize how getting into nice clothes every day and putting on a dab of even the barest makeup does pep up
Whether you think you need emotional support or not, creating a support system of understanding friends & family does help get through motivationally lean times. If you don’t have that luxury, follow websites & personalities who inspire you to keep going in the right direction.
Join support groups if you feel the need even if it’s only on some social media platform. If nothing else, connect with another person who understands what your work is all about. Even bouncing off thoughts on someone who speaks the same professional language as you do can help you de-stress a lot.
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7. Be true to yourself:
If the thought of being responsible for each and every decision you take scares you, that’s good. It’s fine to be scared and apprehensive about the whole thing, but terrified might not work out well.
Be true to yourself about how you work and the reason behind your decision to start working from home. Make commitments & to-do lists based on your style of work. Does your best effort come out when the deadlines are tight or do you work better with everything planned out neatly with time to spare?
Whatever your working style, plan according to that. What works beautifully for someone else might not be a good idea for you & make you end up feeling overwhelmed at work even though you are doing everything right.
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8. Setting goals:
This is one of the most important things to give direction to your decisions and keep you away from getting overworked or feeling overwhelmed at work. It won’t only keep you on the right track, but also keep you motivated.
Remember, short-term goals are as important as the long-term ones. The Slay Your Goals Planner by Nadalie Bardo is quite handy & helpful when it comes to organizing your goals & coming up with an effective action plan.
Here’s a simple method I use that keeps me on track & helps stay motivated celebrating little wins along the way.
Decide on one thing you want to achieve in say one year from now. Write down the 4 major steps you would need to take to reach there. Now once you have got this, take up the first step and write down what exact steps you need to take to make it work. Spread these steps out over the next 90 days.
Once you have crossed the 85-day mark, assess how you’re doing on the timeline. Plan out the next 90 days in the same way with step #2 from our 4 major steps. Include the stray ends of the first quarter. Keep tweaking your plan till you hit the right strategy.
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If you are clear about your boundaries & priorities and convinced about your purpose, it becomes easier to overcome obstacles & keep moving in the right direction. Self-awareness, mindfulness, & clarity of purpose are the cornerstones for overcoming feeling overwhelmed at work. Tune in to yours & see what a difference it makes!
What is your biggest source of stress when it comes to
Yeah, agree with all the points. Although in fact it’s really hard to accomplish all of them. Anyway, I really enjoyed your article, thank you:)