How to Stay Healthy and Effective While Working From Home

One the worst things about working from home is that you're working from home… I know, this sounds silly, but stick with me here on this. You work from home, so you can access your work 24/7, and if you're anything like me, and you love what you do, it can be difficult to walk away from ‘working' — which can lead to a few health issues developing if you don't take care of yourself.

If you want to stay healthy and actually be effective in what you're doing, then you need to ensure that you're taking care of yourself. After all, you are your number one asset, if you go down, so does your business…

It's quite funny to me how we are quite capable of taking care of others, and often putting others needs before our own, but when it comes to looking after ourselves, we're all macho-like and act like we're invincible… when clearly, unless you're Superman, that's definitely not the case.

So, if you're sitting there shaking your head and thinking to yourself, “I don't need Lise's advice,” then give yourself a quick shake (or slap!) and take note. If you want to be successful as a freelancer, then you need to take care of your number one asset: YOU!

5 Steps to Stay Healthy While Working From Home

[bullet_block style=”size-16″ small_icon=”11.png” width=”” alignment=”center”]

• Invest in an office chair! This is one of the easiest ways to ensure that your back stays healthy. If you're spending a bit of time sitting down each day, then your office chair is a key part to your health. If you want to take it a step further, a standing desk is also a good option, one that allows you sit and stand so that you have options.
• Only work for 90 minutes straight at a time. I use Focus@Will to keep track of my blocks of work, and then I always take a 10 minute break between ‘sessions' so that I'm not always sitting down or working on the same stuff all day, as I can lose focus quickly if I'm just doing the same stuff day in, day out.
• Schedule in 30 minutes of exercise at least 4 times per week. I know, you hate the gym, but you don't have to go to the gym to get in 30 minutes worth of exercises. Just going for a walk for 30 minutes is enough to keep your body moving and healthy. HIIT exercises are also a great way to get an all over body workout. Need some ideas? Grab the free No Gym Needed Action Guide here: http://lisecartwright.com/ngn-guide-access/
• Eat. Honestly, you'll be surprised how often you'll go without eating when you're absorbed in a project. You can avoid missing meals by having some snacks at your desk that you can just grab while you're working and then for a solid meal like lunch, make sure you take at least a 30 minute break to eat.
• Avoid working at your kitchen table or from your bed. If you do this too often, you're guaranteed to not only get a sore back, but you'll also feel less motivated and become more distracted by what's around you. Have a dedicated work space while you're at home and stick to it.

[/bullet_block]

These are five simple steps you can apply right now. If you just apply one of them, then you'll be better than not doing anything at all and at least making a step in the right direction of protecting your biggest asset, you!

Do you have any recommendations about how you stay healthy while working from home? Share them in the comments below!

[arrows style=”arrow-blue-3.png” align=”center”]