Here’s the deal – a lot of people think that working from home has got to be the best gig around (especially with rising gas prices) but surprisingly, it’s not the ideal work environment for everyone!
When you leave home and go to the office your never ending list of home-related tasks stay behind, but when you work from home it’s very easy to get distracted by them. In addition, the endless work-related tasks you face while working from home can be detrimental to your health.
Endless To-Do Lists
When your office is at home there’s potentially no end to the amount of time you could spend working and if you go that route, it’s so easy to put your health at the bottom of your priorities – you can always find the need to spend 10 minutes here and another 20 minutes there to get some work done.
At first you might not think it’s a big deal to put your entire being into your business while letting your health slip, but I propose that your health is the most important business tool you own!
Your Health – Your #1 Business Tool
Think about this: your outlook on life in general (incl. your work!) is directly affected by your health. If you suffer from overweight, aches and pains, low energy, or are plagued by food cravings and sugar addiction, your work productivity is going to suffer. Your health affects your creativity, self-confidence, stamina, focus, and mental processes. Therefore I strongly suggest that you put your health at the top of your daily to-do list where it belongs.
Still not convinced?
Maybe you think you cannot spare 30 minutes a day to go for a walk (I understand, I’ve felt like that, too!) or do some strength training. Maybe you’ve just started a business from home and feel that you cannot spare one second because you need to start turning a profit a.s.a.p. Well here’s another thought: if you’re running your own business from home, how important is your mental attitude in relation to how successful you will be?
You see, when you’re working for someone else of course you give it your all and do your best, but when you’re running your own business you have everything on your shoulders – you must:
- Be persistent
- Remain positive
- Produce
- Be creative
- Maintain your self-confidence
- Stay motivated
- Go for your goals
- And above all, believe in yourself
If your body is in poor health this will directly affect your mental outlook, which in turn affects how far you will go in your business. Sound too “out there” for you? Well everything in life begins with a thought, and if your thoughts are damped down because you feel crappy living in your body, then you’re limiting your business success. 😉
5 Tips
Now that you can see how important your health is to your business, here are 5 tips you can start implementing now to get on the healthy track and thrive while working from home:
- Schedule your exercise – You schedule meetings, networking, and business tasks, why not put exercise in your schedule? Set aside 30 minutes each day to either go for a walk or pick up some weights and start building some muscle. You don’t need to go to the gym to do this but can do it right from home – most important is setting the time in your schedule to work out no matter where you choose to do it, and then honoring it.
- Use Twitter for accountability – Working from home you might feel isolated and it’s easy to tell yourself that you’ll “do it tomorrow”. Why not get on Twitter and start tweeting your fitness accountability? This is one way that I use Twitter and if it helps you follow through on your commitment by putting it out there, then it’s a good thing for your health.
- Leave the junk food on the store shelf – When you’re working at home alone give yourself every chance at health by stocking the house with healthy eats. If you leave the junk food where it belongs (on the store shelf!), you’re less likely to get into a cycle of addictive cravings and low energy.
- Drink that water – When you’re stretching the daylight you might tend to indulge in caffeine. I suggest drinking more water than coffee because caffeine will stress your adrenal glands and can lead to anxiety – not helpful in keeping you focused and calm in order to make smart business decisions.
- Set goals – Working from home requires discipline and self-motivation, both traits that you can apply to your workout routine. Just like you set your business goals, go ahead and set some fitness goals. You’re most likely a highly motivated individual since you are successfully working from home, so just apply the same trait to your workout routine.
These are just 5 tips to get you started. I think it’s also important to get up and stretch once an hour, eat clean (a diet filled with whole foods), plan your meals, and be sure to eat healthy throughout the day instead of putting it off while working and overeating at night. It’s good to start off small though, and add on more healthy changes while you go.
What About You?
If you work from home I’d love to hear how you keep health and fitness a priority in your life and how it has affected the success you’ve achieved while working from home!
This post is part of Wendy Piersall’s group writing project to help the work at home community.
Great post! I struggle with this one all the time.
I do go mountain biking a couple of evenings a week (it’s easier to stick with it because it’s a social event, too, and people expect to see me) but my strength training routine is regularly abandoned because I’m “too busy.”
Love the twitter idea!
Hi Sarah,
Thanks!
Yeah, Twitter is helping me more than if I stayed alone with my goals, ya know? 🙂
And I think biking is a great way to get out and about, like you said people are expecting you, so you’ve kinda got to show up.
If you ever want some support to get your strength training in let me know on Twitter and we can keep each other accountable – @jb108 – makes it fun. 🙂
Hi Jolynn,
Thanks for the great tips.
However, I’m afraid that I don’t get the second tip. I mean, how to do it?
How to get accountable with twitter?
Raymond Chuas last blog post..The Summary of The Secret
I found when working from home that getting out to go to the gym provided a change of pace and atmosphere.
Yes, working out at home can be more convenient… but sometimes sticking to an exercise program is easier if you remove yourself from your work environment.
Curtis Penners last blog post..Back Exercises: One-Arm Dumbbell Row
Hi Raymond,
Actually I wrote previous posts on staying accountable to my health & fitness goals w/Twitter, I linked to one in my #2 tip in my article. In that other post I wrote about how I’m using Twitter to stay on track, it’s a lot of fun. 😉
Yeah, this post (above) is all about staying healthy and fit while working from home, I’m glad you liked my tips, thanks! 🙂
Hi Curtis,
It sounds like you’ve got the same thought as Sarah – getting out of the house to work out is a better help to you when you work from home. That makes sense, thanks for weighing in on that! (lol, pun intended :D)
I always get my workouts done first thing in the morning, that way I know I will have the energy to get through my morning. Another thing I do is make sure I do not sit in front of the laptop for more than 2 hours at a time. I set a time limit and then for an hour, get up and do some house work or just move around.
I do a lot of those things – except I’ve not got around to using Twitter yet.
I need to get up and walk a little more often though.
Trishas last blog post..Obstetric Fistula – the Tragedy of a Nightmare Within a Nightmare
GREAT TIPS.
and Im so torn about twitter.
I dont do it because Im afraid it would be another distraction for me.
M.
MizFits last blog post..Tues Tip
Hi Angie,
Working out in the a.m. would also be a great way for work at homes folks to be sure to get their daily exercise in. I’ve never been a morning work out kinda gal, preferring to do it in the p.m. to relieve stress, but I would try it out for a change.
Hi Trisha,
I like walking (fast – paced walking), it helps me relieve stress. I walk for my cardio and do more cardio sessions than body sculpting sessions.
Yeah, see how you like Twitter, I enjoy it! 🙂
Thanks for the reply, Jolynn.
I missed the link. 🙂
Raymond Chuas last blog post..Evolve or Dissolve
Hey Raymond, that’s no problem at all – maybe I need to change the color of the links…feel free to give me your feedback on that. 🙂
Hi Jolynn,
The links are still viewable. It works fine. Perhaps it’s due to the problem of my eyes. 🙂
Perhaps increasing the contrast can make it better (if you insist to change) 😉
Raymond Chuas last blog post..Evolve or Dissolve
An issue very near and dear to my heart considering I pretty much am at home working 6-7 days a week on average.
My routine is:
a) I work at night and every hour or so, I get my ipod, go outside and run about three laps round the track to clear my head an get ready for the next thing I have to do.
b) I cut out meat, dairy and biscuits from my diet which pretty much eliminated my diet Achilles heel and I intend to use my blog to chronicle my healthy eating experiments.
That way I have managed to keep myself at the same weight, though I have lost muscle mass resistance training must come soon, since I started working from home.
Mwangi-the Displaced Africans last blog post..African Man Worth Looking Up To:Derrick Ashong
Oops I forgot to subscribe to comments.
Mwangi-the Displaced Africans last blog post..African Man Worth Looking Up To:Derrick Ashong
I completely agree with the water tip. I was beginning to get dehydrated, and I blamed it all on exhaustion, and not lack of water. It’s easy to lose sight of the 8 glasses of water rule when you’re at your computer.
Strangely, I’ve been finding coffee to be not as much as a perk-me-up as it used to be. All it does now is give me an upset tummy, instead of keeping me awake for those graveyard shifts…
Great tips there! I advocate all of them except maybe the Twitter tip (mainly because I like to keep a better repository of what I eat and how much I exercise and it is hard to get that kind of data back from Twitter).
Great post. I’ve only just started using Twitter and it’s never occurred to me it could be a tool for creating accountability for my goals…
Johns last blog post..Setting DUMB Goals
Here’s the way I look at it.
My exercise is like medicine that I need to live. So it’s dangerous to miss a workout.
Everything else follows
Stumbled!
Jaaccoob from Group Wrriting Projectss last blog post..Come Vote for Best Posts in PureBlogging’s How To Group Writing Project
@Raymond, thanks, I might see about changing the contrast like you suggested, thanks for getting back to me on that.
@Mwangi, great suggestions for all work-at-homers, and I’m not at all surprised that when you cut the meat, dairy and biscuits from your diet that you noticed a healthy change for yourself. I do eat meat but stick to things like lean chicken breasts, not red meat.
But, you have to listen to your own body and it sounds like that’s what you’re doing. Good luck with your resistance training, I do that also, in addition to cardio.
@mama,
Isn’t that interesting that the coffee isn’t really doin’ it for ya now and that you’re loving the water? For myself if I don’t get in all of my water (100oz a day) I really notice a difference.
@Elliot,
Thanks! And re: Twitter, I don’t use it as a food or exercise journal but instead I tweet about what I eat and the exercise I do or need to do to keep myself accountable. I “put myself out there” so then I need to follow through.
Besides that it’s a great way to stay connected for those who work at home – people use Twitter in different ways & you can pick up some great WAH tips, too, depending on who you follow.
@John,
Cool, have you started using Twitter for accountability now and is it helping you with your goals?
@Jacob,
I can really relate to that, I also miss my workouts if I go too long without them – my minimum is 5 days a week of cardio so I do take off a couple of days, usually not 2 in a row, though.
You just feel so much better afterwards and if you work from home it’s a much needed respite. 🙂
I have a dog and cat we take a walk in the morning and we take the children for a walk in the afternoon then in the evening the dog and i end the walking. and i eat six time a day small meal.I work at home.
I´m working from home too and for the longest time have I not put my health on the list of business tools, resulting in quite some kilos that I need to get rid of and some serious re-sheduling of my time.
For me tip 1 and 5 are most important and hard to follow up with … but I am taking baby steps forwards!
Mirjams last blog post..Moderating Alcohol Intake for a Healthier BMI