Home Office: My reality, my golden rules!

Nowadays, the house is no longer just the physical place where we live and live to become also the office of many professionals.

There are already thousands of articles written about this change and about the habits to adopt to have a balanced life on a professional and personal level. So I decided, instead of “giving tea” on the subject, to write in the first person about my reality and my golden rules.

My Reality, my golden rules!

As you know, I am the founder and creative manager of Studio Alegriia and I work on my own.

In the article “Viva Alegriia!” I explain how this project started. Since then it’s been a year and a half! The time flies. And it is precisely because of the time we fly that we must make the most of it: in moments of leisure, in moments of conviviality and also in moments of work!

For me it was a challenge to start working alone, as during my professional life I was always surrounded by people. I had to adapt to a new work environment, create new methods of managing my time, reorganize my day-to-day life combining my professional and personal life. Basically re-educate me physically and psychologically for this new reality. Today I will leave some of my “golden rules” for a balanced professional and personal life. After all, working from home is not as easy as it seems!

1. Keep the morning routine as if you had to punch the spot!

Living and working within the same 4 walls, 5 days a week, requires great organization on a personal level. It’s easier to make us lazy: wanting to stay in bed for a few more minutes, sit on the sofa watching a movie, among other laziness! But I arranged my survival mechanisms to this psychological self-pressure of “I’m at home, I don’t have to explain to anyone, so…”.

I get up early every day. I arrange myself as if I were going to leave the house. I have my breakfast at 8:15 am.

At 9:00 am I am ready and focused to get to work!

2. Preparing the week to the weekend…It’s boring but it saves me a lot of time!

Combining professional and personal life is a challenge when working from home. There is always something to do at home: washing clothes, cooking, cleaning, among other tasks. Professional obligations are also unrelenting!

It is important to organize our day-to-day activities so that we do not take time from work to do homework and vice versa.

Every weekend I organize weekly meals. For the main meals I always have soup made and the vegetables washed and prepared. This golden rule saves me a lot of time in the kitchen during the week.

All other household chores, whenever possible, I do at the end of each day.

3. The diary, lists and notebooks are My greatest allies in achieving goals!

Running an online business has its requirements. Organization is fundamental! There is a lot to do and organize monthly.

My dear schedule!

In the last week of each month I usually organize, plan and set goals for the following month. Monthly planning does not invalidate weekly organization, on the contrary, it helps us not to deviate from our goals. So every Friday I take a few minutes to take stock of the week and plan the following week.

At my side I always have the agenda with the list of tasks for the day. I love putting a check on tasks when I finish them. I feel like I’ve achieved my goal every time I do it… Manias!

Notepads… Sometimes they are better than memofante!

Have you ever had a “flash” idea or seen something you wanted to review more closely or do later? For example a recipe, an interesting article, a store or product, among others?

It happens to me constantly to have ideas of interesting topics for posts on social media, a good subject for blogging or even barring new partners, suppliers or products.

A notepad and pen make great companions. I always carry them with me! In them I point out all the ideas and also the emergencies that arise. Of course, for the more technological, there is the notebook on the mobile phone. In this respect I am “Old Fashion”.

There’s always time for the Mini Break… coffee or tea? a snack please!

Knowing how to manage time is crucial for us to be productive. That’s why I always include a morning and afternoon break in my daily life.

“Inhale, exhale and don’t freak out!” that’s what I do often! Like? I take the opportunity to crack something or simply drink a coffee or tea, while I call family or friends to see if everything is ok! These 15-20 minutes are great for recharging energy!

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4. The weekend is sacred to maintaining mental health!

This is the last and best rule! Weekend, for me, is super, hyper and mega sacred to keep my psychological balance.

If on the one hand I like my professional activity a lot, on the other I am also very adept at having time for myself and mine!

Whenever there are events, you can’t have this treat called the weekend! But I always try to find a way to balance it with a morning or afternoon off. After all, everyone deserves a rest day to relax and do what they like!

Whenever possible, because our government has imposed some restrictions on us, I go to visit family members: parents and grandparents.

Stretching my muscles and walking with my husband is also something I do every weekend. I like to get some fresh air, visit and listen to the sea, eat a treat and at night watch a good movie with popcorn… Things that entertain me!

This is my experience. I still have a lot to improve. The path is made by walking!