In March 2020 — when the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic shut down large swaths of American businesses — employees increasingly began working from home. There were fears that remote work would cause a plunge in overall workplace productivity. But, according to the New York Times, many companies have turned the corner and now feel their employees have become more efficient and productive.

In fact, the online learning company Chegg found that 86 percent of employees felt their productivity was the same or even better than before working from home (nytimes.com). The events of 2020 essentially accelerated the work-from-anywhere trend, as remote work has been steadily increasing with the “gig economy” (creativelive.com) and nomadic work-life.

Still, many are finding that working from home can cause burnout. According to Psychiatric News, burnout is a “syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a diminished sense of personal accomplishment.”

Avoiding burnout while working remotely can be a huge challenge, especially if you’re used to having the structure of an office environment.

How can you prevent burnout while working from home?

You can prevent burnout — while boosting your motivation and productivity — with four important factors will help you clarify clear boundaries for work performance:

• physical boundaries
• social boundaries
• time boundaries
• your productivity system: your purpose & priorities.

Stay productive while working from home with physical boundaries

“Cues” and "associations” can help your brain feel like it’s in “work mode.” Set up cues, like your desk environment and your attire, to make yourself feel like you’re on work time.

How can the right physical environment make you productive while working from home?

According to Kamarulzaman et al at the Universiti Teknologi MARA in Malaysia, the physical environment has a strong influence on their employees. Consider all the nuances that an office may optimize to boost their employees’ productivity and concentration:

• Indoor temperature
• Air quality
• Color & lighting
• Noise vs silence
• Interior plants

Creating your dedicated workspace at home — with great natural light, work environment — can help reinforce the boundary between home life and work life.

Additionally, dressing up for work can help you get in the mode. Ditching the sweats for a button-down or slacks will make you feel more confident and presentable for any video calls.

How can you stay connected with colleagues—but set social boundaries—while working from home?

You’ll need to set up some ground rules for personal and professional life. If you are working from home, you’re at higher risk of being too isolated from social interaction, yet having too many interruptions to your workflow.

First, consider setting up office hours. Set up regular huddles, check-ins for a video call. Depending on how closely you used to interact with your teammates, you can set these up every day, every few days, or every week.

Second, communicate with those who live with you to give you space and time to do your work. This goes for your children, your significant other, or your roommates. You could, for instance, wear headphones as a sign that you’re busy. Or, place a colorful traffic light-style sign near you indicating when you can or cannot be interrupted.

Third, don’t be a stranger. Communicate context, your feelings, your understanding, your intention to stay in the loop. E-mail messages — if too short — can be easily taken out of context. And, a lack of communication can cause teammates to start assuming the worst. Maintain a stream of discussion about your tasks, projects, and schedules so everyone stays informed.

Avoid time burnout: Set temporal boundaries with schedules and routines

Setting specific working hours strengthens your temporal boundaries. I find that putting together a daily routine schedule — where I wake up, put on a Les Mills exercise program, review my Nifty project management system, and get as much work done as possible in the morning — helps me more easily establish a rhythm.

Why is struggling to work in the evening unproductive?

Stop worrying and start relaxing before sleeping at 8pm. I personally try to keep 5pm onwards free as much as possible.

Intentionally stopping work at a specific time enables me to:

• allows me to stop worrying and start relaxing before sleeping at 8pm.
• relax and think more creatively.
• reduce guilt, shame, and emotional baggage when I inevitably become distracted.
• minimize overwork
• improve work life balance, making work hours distinct from home life.

Attempting to do remote work beyond a set point is completely unproductive. I used to take on college overnighter habits: I forced myself to grind away at work through the night by shaming myself, feeling guilty, in a form of self-flagellation when my energy is depleted.

Why does relaxation boost productivity?

Now, I have accepted that relaxation is, indeed, productive and has a function: to recharge my batteries. In fact, you should intentionally block out a couple of pre-scheduled 15-minute regular breaks — at least twice a day:

“Studies show we have a limited capacity for concentrating over extended time periods, and though we may not be practiced at recognizing the symptoms of fatigue, they unavoidably derail our work. No matter how engaged we are in an activity, our brains inevitably tire. And when they do, the symptoms are not necessarily obvious. We don’t always yawn or feel ourselves nodding off. Instead, we become more vulnerable to distractions.”

— Ron Friedman, Harvard Business Review, in “Schedule a 15-Minute Break Before You Burn Out”

Work will never end. E-mails won’t stop coming. In an in-person office environment, co-workers, bosses, and clients can see you in person and tell if you’ve worked yourself to exhaustion.

But, when you’re working from home, you have to be the one to pump the brakes. Give yourself permission to stop when you need, and restore your personal reserves and energy. Energy management is good time management.

Avoid Hair-on-Fire Syndrome: How to prioritize & plan

It’s easy to fall victim to incessant instant messages, e-mails, and phone texts. Before you know it, you might get caught up in solely addressing such interruptions without getting actual work done.

Plus, working from home can present a new challenge: cultural and communication norms have not yet been established.

Reviewing your priorities, your schedule, and your plans helps you avoid spiraling down a communication black hole. On a daily basis, sort out important tasks and ensure you’re doing the right work.

It can range from a simple a to-do list to a complete project plan structuring your remote work schedule. I talk about this in the Hack Productivity Playbook course, where I guide students in setting up a system to clarify their purpose and their priorities in life. In this course, we ensure that every to-do item earns its way onto their productivity system.

What are more ways to hack productivity while working from home?

You can learn more about sharpening your productivity game to do important work and strengthen your state of mind:

• 3 Tips to Avoid WFH Burnout (hbr.org) - How to leave work at the door when you don’t leave the house.
• Workplace Strategies for Mental Health - Burnout Response (workplacestrategiesformentalhealth.com) - Understanding and identifying burnout, recognizing workplace factors, and taking pro-active steps for prevention can help reduce the negative impact on employees and workplaces.
• How to Avoid Burnout While You're Working From Home (thriveglobal.com) - Working from home during COVID-19 can cause stress and anxiety, but setting boundaries is key for your mental health and productivity.
• 7 Ways to Prevent Burnout While Working Remotely (creativelive.com) - Working remote requires self-discipline that doesn't always come naturally. Learn 7 techniques for preventing burnout and thriving away from the office.

I’ve spent over 10 years in the professional work world, coaching peers and trainees for success and beating stress. Now, as faculty at Stanford University, I work with top performers, leaders, and influencers.

Want to hack your productivity game? Check out the Hack Productivity course on the Mental Power Hacks Resources page.

© 2020 Steven Chan. All rights reserved worldwide. Copyright violation may subject the violator to legal prosecution.