Category: healthandwellness

business management, healthandwellness

Dealing With Stressors When Working From Home

Genean

Working from home does have a lot of benefits. No dress code, no manager breathing down your neck, no long commute, (thank goodness with these gas prices!) and being able to work wherever you want to are all positive aspects.

Adapting to a home/work environment has its own set of unique stressors and challenges, however.

For example, when working from home you are typically less physically active. This can affect both your overall health and sleep patterns. 

Also, motivation and distractions are biggies. Since you are in the comfort of your own home you are surrounded by things (and people and animals) that pull your mind elsewhere. For example; your tv, your pet, your kid, Amazon deliveries and even neighbors are all common distractions during working hours. These distractions can lead to a real lack of motivation. 

Two more challenges include dealing with a lack of structure (which can lead back to distraction) and difficulty setting boundaries. If you have kids at home, they won’t understand that you need time to work. Pets! The dogs still need walking, feeding and letting to go do their thang. Even friends and family might not totally understand that you are, in fact, at work. 

With these unique work-from-home difficulties  in mind, here are some tips for combating the stress of those challenges. 

  1. Creating a routine is a must. Not only will this help build structure for you personally, but also for the family, friends and pets in your life. 
    1. Create a practice that marks the beginning of your day: This may include taking a walk before you start working, taking a few moments to stretch, and/or enjoying a coffee or tea to start your day.
    2. Mark the end of your work day: Simple tasks like putting your work material away and out of sight, taking an evening walk or prioritizing one-on-one time with a family member who might not have gotten enough attention during the day.
    3. Set a morning alarm: Waking up at the same time everyday can give you enough time to prepare for your workday and helps with establishing your morning routine.
    4. Set a regular lunch time: Taking lunch at a similar time everyday can give you a much-needed break and offer you some time to refuel before getting back to work. Be sure to fully unplug during your lunch time so you can enjoy your break.
    5. Prioritize challenging tasks: If you have the ability to decide which projects or tasks to complete, consider doing the most difficult ones first to reduce the potential of feeling overwhelmed later in the day.
  1. Create a dedicated work space. Try to create a dedicated workspace where you can solely focus on your job. Creating specific work and home boundaries, even if you’re just using a small corner of your home, can help you mentally shift from home life to work. Get everything you need in one place, before you start work – chargers, pens, paper and anything else – and shut the door if you can. Even in a small or shared space, try to designate an area for your work. It may also help you leave your work “at the office” once you’re done with your day.
  1. Reward yourself. Make sure you don’t forget to take care of yourself. If you have a task list, cross off those tasks. That little achievement gives you a dopamine boost. Consider having a post-it note with a relevant positive affirmation to recite during the day. Take a well-deserved break  and move around a bit. This may mean walking around your home or doing some stretches during your breaks. If weather permits, try to get outside and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine. This can re-energize you.
  1. And my last tip is to prioritize your sleep and practice self-care. Doing so may help you stay connected to yourself and more fully understand what you need in terms of work-life balance. Take your time figuring out how you can best take care of yourself and meet your needs.
    1. Be sure to prioritize unwinding at night and practice good sleeping habits. 
    2. Exercise regularly.
    3. Practice meditation.
    4. Do yoga.
    5. Read during your downtime.
    6. Take naps.
    7. Listen to music you enjoy.
    8. Spend time with friends.

While working from home may provide a sense of freedom and flexibility, as well as a no-cost commute, there are hidden stressors to be aware of. So remember to be kind to yourself and acknowledge that you are learning how to be productive in a new work environment. Be realistic and make sure to unplug and relax when you are done.

business management, businessbuildingstrategies, healthandwellness, Implementation, Marketing, organizational behavior, process management, sop creation

Achieve Your New Year Goals With a Virtual Assistant

Genean

We’re here! It’s officially 2022! Many people have spent a lot of time these last 2 years indoors, in pajamas, binge-watching all the shows to ever exist on every TV platform, but not busy business owners! The ones of us who have a strong vision and clear goals have been preparing for this new year! Are you ready to thrive in 2022?

 For a business to prosper, it needs to be running smoothly and efficiently. Take time during the first month of the year to make a plan for how you will be more productive and efficient in the new year. Some popular resolutions for business owners include: ‘become more organized’, ‘improve my social media marketing’, and even ‘work less so I can spend more time with my family’. How are you going to make this happen? 

Working on tedious and repetitive tasks can start to really take a toll on a business owner. What you really want to be doing is focusing on paying customers and clients; but how can you do so when all your time is spent answering emails or creating graphics for your social media pages? 

Don’t start the new year feeling overwhelmed by small, tedious tasks. Start fresh and set new goals. This is a new beginning, and you’d be amazed by how much time you could get back by hiring a virtual assistant. If your goal is to work towards your passion, by outsourcing to a virtual assistant, you are opening up hours to refocus on the things that make you passionate about your business. 

Social media is critical for all businesses. How will your consumers build a deeper connection with you and become more loyal customers if you don’t utilize social media? Through proper social media marketing, your business can reach larger audiences and grow your brand awareness. However, this can’t be done in a day. 

Having a strong social media presence requires many hours to be put in working towards building that audience and engaging with it. Luckily, there are thousands of virtual assistants who specialize in social media management. They can take care of creating graphics, engaging with audiences, video editing, post scheduling, and so much more. If one of your resolutions is to grow your audience and social media presence, don’t spend countless hours a month doing it, hand it off to your virtual assistant! 

Toward the middle and end of the year, we can start to feel so overwhelmed by our workloads that we begin to lose touch with more important things outside of our work life; such as family and friends. Make it your New Year’s resolution to take time for yourself. Enjoy your time away from work, take an extra day off, spend time with your loved ones, without the hassle of having to worry if work is getting done. Your virtual assistant is there to make sure that you are living stress-free while your business continues to grow and prosper. 

A virtual assistant has your business’ best interest at heart. It is our job to watch you succeed and aid in the process. You will have somebody to bounce your ideas off and provide you with support, which is indispensable when you want to achieve goals. Your virtual assistant can give you opinions and suggestions for things you may not even notice about your business. They work to make your life easier. If you haven’t hired a virtual assistant yet, what are you waiting for? Now is a perfect time. It’s a new year. Start fresh! Hire a VA! http://www.lifebydesignvs.com

healthandwellness

Healthier Living is Possible Even If You’re Addicted to Junk

How do you learn to live a healthier lifestyle when your body is addicted to eating junk food?   How do we eat an elephant? One bite at a time? Well, this is the opposite. One LESS bite at a time. LOL.

So, I’ve been asked by quite a few people lately how I’ve been able to cut out a lot of bad foods and replace with healthier options. For instance, in our home we no longer eat pasta. We eat zucchini and spaghetti squash and cauliflower instead. Was that an overnight change? Heck no!

So maybe you are where I was 2 years ago. Maybe, like me before, you drink soda daily, or eat out 2-3 times a week, or maybe Little Debbie is your best friend like she was mine. Turns out she was an enabler who I needed to remove from my life…. 😀

Maybe you work a lot like I did and it’s just easier to throw a frozen pizza in the oven or some bagel bites in the microwave? Yep, that was us. How did we change it? One small step at a time.

You can too. Small steps lead to big progress over time.

This same concept applies to every area of our lives. If you are wanting to lose weight, stop trying to find the fast, easy way. If you want to be healthy in every way, stop looking for quick fixes. Same applies to your business. If you want to succeed, start making small steps toward success, without giving up when it doesn’t work in 30 days.

Success will come if you don’t give up.

To your success,

Genean Roberts