self-care Archives - Appointment - Online Appointment Scheduling Software

Scheduling Self Care When Working From Home

By Choncé Maddox | Scheduling | No Comments

Even though many people have already been working from home since before the pandemic began, these past two years have increased the need for remote and flexible work. Gallup’s May 2021 study says that 7 in 10 U.S white-collar workers are still working remotely. In that same study, it was concluded that 4 in 10 white-collar employees prefer the option of working remotely. As remote working numbers increase, the habit of scheduling self-care becomes more and more crucial.

Mental health is a big part of that because working from home can bring a lack of socialization that most people had previously to our words being turned upside down in early 2020. Working from home may seem like it’s better for your work-life balance on the surface. However, it can also blur the lines of work and personal time way to easily.

If you still want to prioritize yourself while working from home, here are some top tips for scheduling self-care.

Commit to a Schedule That Honors Self-Care

Scheduling self-care all starts with creating a daily routine and calendar that leaves room for prioritizing yourself. Create your ideal daily schedule including time you spend working and having meetings, along with time spent on household tasks. Then, be sure to work in breaks and room for self-care as needed.

Define what self-care means to you and add it to your daily calendar so you’re never lacking it. When you work from home, staying active and healthy can easily be scheduled around meetings throughout the day especially if you are in control of what goes on your calendar. Some assignments can be mentally tasking so instead of jumping right to the next task getting a walk around your neighborhood or other exercises in can be great for both you and the next coworker or client you interact with.

Start Your Day With a Healthy Breakfast

A healthy breakfast has been recommended ever since many of us were young and in school. Don’t turn away from this principle now that you’re an adult and working from home. Eating a healthy breakfast is one of the best ways to replenish your body after receiving 8 hours of sleep.

Better Health calls breakfast the most important meal of the day. It replenishes your glucose to help boost your energy and alertness. According to WebMD many studies have pointed eating a healthy breakfast to better memory and concentration which are key ingredients to a successful workday. They also mention the low blood sugar in your body when you wake up and how important bre akfast is to replenish it. Some of those items that give you those essential vitamins and nutrients are grains, dairy, and fruits.

Get Up Early

Getting up early could be your ticket to a productive day. Scheduling self-care can be as simple as making sure you get 8 hours of sleep each night. Your body needs time to rest and recover from all you do each day. The key is to make sure you get to bed around 8 hours before you plan to wake up.

Setting yourself up to wake up earlier will also give you more opportunities to practice self-care and adopt a better routine. You could work in 30 minutes of exercise or 10 minutes of meditation which can go a long way in helping keep you focused and feeling great throughout the workday. Or, you could journal, read, or do something that fills your cup during the day. These tasks are just a few of the many that you can use to shift your mindset before starting work or even throughout the day as you schedule self-care.

Schedule a Hard Stop Each Day

Starting your day on the right foot is important, but so is ending it as well. I have heard of plenty of stories when people are noticing work emails come in and out late into the night. It doesn’t have to be like that. Don’t put your brain through that. Find a time that you want to call it quits for the day and make that happen. It’s easy to want to work all hours of the day if you work from home. That’s not something you did when you worked in the office though.

You may not be able to actually ‘clock out’ and head home as you finish your workday. However, you can schedule a time when you can turn off your notifications until the next workday. Those emails and calls can be a distraction that isn’t healthy. We shouldn’t have to worry about work every minute of the day. Working from home should also include taking time for you and your families.

Be Intentional About Rest and Play

Take advantage of the opportunity to work from home. If your schedule allows, get a change of scenery and work from a coffee shop one day. A different place to work might give you just the boost you need to get a big project or task done.

Sometimes, being at home can be a distraction so getting out to somewhere that can help you be more productive can make both your boss and clients happier. Get out and spend time with friends and family for lunch. What better way to promote self-care and socializing than getting together with loved ones?

Create your schedule so you have time to do something relaxing like go get a massage or attend group class and interact with others. People who work during the day don’t have this opportunity so you might get lucky enough to schedule self-care that would be more challenging to obtain if you worked a 9 to 5 job in the office.

Plan to Get Dressed for the Day

Getting out of your pajamas and into clothes for the day can help signal that it’s time to get into work mode. This is part of your morning routine that doesn’t have to change. Getting cleaned up and putting on a new set of clothes can be the simplest but also very effective way to practice self-care. It can act as a mental shift that it’s time to get serious and start getting work done.

Be sure to simplify and plan out what you’ll wear each week in advance. That way, you can get dressed each day with ease while working from home.

Summary

Working from home is the norm for many across the nation. While working from home can seem flexible and freeing on the surface, it can also add to your stress levels and deter your self-care efforts. The best way to combat this is to prioritize scheduling self-care.

Set self-care goals, and prioritize your schedule. Make the boundaries clear early on and get a schedule in place so you’re not working up until bedtime. These tips along with the many others we mentioned will play a big part in making sure your self-care is included in your workday.

It’s Okay Not to Be Okay —You Can Still Work

By John Rampton | Knowledge Base | No Comments

50 Top Productivity Quotes For Work and Life

In addition to your existing responsibilities, you’re probably also worried about the COVID-19 pandemic, social unrest, and the uncertainty of the future. It’s fair to say that feeling overwhelmed is the new normal. But, it’s okay not to be okay. You can still work.

Obviously, “not being okay right now” is going to interfere with your work. And, here’s where it becomes a vicious cycle. You can’t focus and fall behind — then it’s A LOT worse — and you’re even more anxious.

Here’s the thing though. It’s okay to not be okay right now. There’s a lot going in the world and you have every right to feel this way. At the same time, you can still be productive — even if it’s not at the level you’re accustomed to.

Clear your calendar.

When you have a minute, pull up your calendar and give it a look. Are there any tasks that could be delegated or deleted? Any upcoming meetings that could be rescheduled or replaced with a quick phone call? What about recurring events or commitments that no don’t fit into your schedule?

The point of this exercise is to clear the clutter from your calendar so that only your priorities are booked. The reason why this can be effective is that your day may not seem as overwhelming since there isn’t much left on your plate.

And, whatever is left can then be broken down into more manageable pieces. That makes getting started a whole lot easier.

Meet in the middle.

Sometimes we tend to get stuck in the linear trap. What exactly does this mean? Well, take writing a blog as an example. If you’re generating a top ten list you start with one and follow the sequence until ten.

But, sometimes when you’re stuck, that can be overwhelming. That’s why a writer friend suggested to Therese Borchard to start in the middle.

“There is less pressure in the middle,” explains Borchard in an Everyday Health article. “The beginning and the end are too weighted.”

“I’ve been using this wisdom not only when I am stuck as a writer,” Borchard adds. “But also when I’m paralyzed by the laundry, when the dishes chase me, when my cluttered desk scowls at me, when I can’t concentrate at work, when socializing is less enjoyable than a dental cleaning.” And, you can even apply it “to larger things, too: choosing a career, navigating a stagnant relationship, figuring how I’m supposed to parent.”

Why is this effective? Because life isn’t always linear. “As much as I want to place it between bookends, it’s messy and confusing, absurd and irrational,” states Borchard. “It lacks a beginning and an end, a straightforward path with an explanation” and is “full of questions with few answers.”

Lean into the wind.

Raymond DePaulo, M.D., author of Understanding Depression has a phrase to use whenever you’re trying to work while depressed: “You have to lean into the wind.”

What on Earth does this mean? Well, there are several ways to interrupt this phrase. But, personally, I think it’s about reminding yourself that this is temporary. And, more importantly, using these changing patterns to your advantage.

For example, when you’re in a good place and feeling uber-productive, get as much work out of the way. If you do happen to fall into a slump again, you’ll be ahead so that you won’t have that anxiety of falling behind.

On the flip side, when you’re feeling down, use that time to attend to yourself. Maybe engage in a little self-care, recite positive affirmations, or just take the day off.

Spruce up your workspace.

When was the last time you cleaned and organized your workspace? If you can’t recall, then right now is a great time to do so. After all, a tidy workspace saves you time, reduces stress, and can even fuel creativity.

And, while you’re at it, decorate and personalize your workspace as well. A study in The Journal of Environmental Psychology discovered that this can increase productivity and overall energy. Additionally, you may want to invest in a standing desk and ergonomic furniture.

Deactivate the “Me” centers of your brain through meditation.

What exactly is a “Me” center? Well, according to Rebecca Gladding M.D., this is “the part of the brain that constantly references back to you, your perspective and experiences.” It’s referred to this “because it processes information related to you, including when you are daydreaming, thinking about the future, reflecting on yourself, engaging in social interactions, inferring other people’s state of mind or feeling empathy for others.”

Since this is the default mode network (DMN) that’s responsible for mind-wandering and self-referential thoughts we want to turn this off. After all, it’s been found that mind-wandering is associated with being less happy, ruminating, and worrying about both the past and future.

Thankfully, meditation can deactivate these “Me” centers. As a result, this will help pull you back into the present and encourage you to focus on the task at hand.

Don’t believe the 8-hour workday lie.

Prior to social reformer Robert Owen calling for “eight hours labor, eight hours recreation, and eight hours rest,” factory workers put in a brutal 12 to 14 hours. While that’s definitely progress, this remains that standard for employees well over a century later. And, that’s not conducive to most modern gigs today.

“It’s all but impossible to actually work for eight hours a day in the jobs so many of us now have,” writes Lizzie Wade opines over at Wired. “Like most people writing hot takes and think pieces about productivity, I’m focusing on knowledge workers here—those of us who work at desks, mostly in front of computers, in offices or from home.”

Wade is right on. According to a study from Stanford, working long hours doesn’t make you more productive. In fact, once you’ve clocked in 55 hours per week, productivity plummets so much that it’s pointless to work any more.

So, I propose that you change that mindset. If you’re able to knock out your top priority for the day, some administrative work, and a video meeting in around 4-hours, I would say that you had a productive day. In other words, focus more on the quality of what you’re doing instead of the hours you’ve put in.

Phone a friend.

If you have someone that you trust a friend, family member, or colleague, call them up when you’re not at 100%. Mainly this is because talking can lead to catharsis. In turn, you feel a sense of relief and have cleared your head so that you can focus.

What’s more, talking to someone else gives you the opportunity to spitball ideas or solve a problem together. Even if you aren’t using these ideas at the moment, you can use them to steer you in the right direction. For example, if you’re struggling with fresh content for your business, you and a co-worker could at least develop a list of ideas to work from. They may not be developed just yet, but it’s a starting point.

Cut yourself some slack.

I can’t stress this enough if there was ever a time to be kind to yourself, it’s now. So what if you only worked for 4-hours or took an hour-long walk outside? Is it really the end of the world if you didn’t respond to an email today or cross-off all the items on your to-do list?

Give yourself a break here and do the best you can. Giving yourself a break may mean admitting that you’re not perfect. It’s about making yourself a priority and practicing self-kindness. And, it’s the perfect time to reevaluate your goals to make sure that they’re reasonable.

But like David Kessler says — “You don’t have to find a meaning.” Sometimes you just have to go through this “meaningful moment.” (I just watched David Kessler at a grief conference – Open to Hope. Amazing.)

Stop chasing productivity.

“Every waking moment of your life does not need to be optimized to make you a better, more profitable you,” says career coach Meghan Duffy. “Pandemic or otherwise, you have worth outside of your output.”

Personally, I’ve found that between the pandemic, social issues, and a lot more time to myself, that being included in the 48% of Americans who considered ourselves “workaholics” was no longer a priority. There are just more important things in life besides work.

In fact, I’ve cherished the moments of literally doing nothing as of late.

“Sometimes doing nothing, lounging on the couch and relaxing are great forms of self-care,” explains Elizabeth Beecroft, LMSW. That may sound counterproductive. But, having disconnecting and unplugging have done wonders for the mind, body, and soul.

Ask for help.

Finally, if you are truly struggling then please meet with a mental health professional. Since many of them provide online or phone sessions, it’s never been easier to fit a session into your busy schedule. Most importantly, you have someone to talk to and they can offer strategies to help you cope and manage your anxiety or stress.

Some of your productivity right now, in this current moment, may be taking care of yourself. Taking care of yourself will mean that you can get back to your work.

How Do You Prioritize Yourself?

By John Rampton | Time Management | No Comments

Years ago I was having dinner with my parents. The phone rang. It was a friend in a panic. She was driving home and her car died. We later found out that her car had an oil leak. And, because she hadn’t put oil in it, the car obviously overheated and shut down. But how do you prioritize yourself?

Do you make sure that your vehicle is well maintained? Are you prioritizing yourself? You will want to prioritize all the things in your life that you can so that your life will run smoothly. When you prioritize yourself — all parts of life run better. You’re not going to break down because you’re physically and mentally burned out.

As Lisa Firestone Ph.D. notes in Psychology Today, everyone should take care of themselves because:

When we’re drained, we don’t have anything else to give to others.
Doing what we love recharges us.
We lose aspects of ourselves when only focused on others.
Setting aside our own needs can exhaust those around us.
We lose ourselves in our own critical inner voice.
We fail to practice self-compassion.
It causes stress for us and our family, friends, and co-workers.
It impairs our performance at work.

Additionally, when you put yourself at the bottom of your to-do-list, you’re more stressed and less energetic and creative. Your sleep is impaired and you may turn to other vices. Self-care is one of the secrets to physical and mental health.

Despite this fact, many of us fail to put ourselves first. While this varies from person to person, it’s usually because we believe that it’s selfish — which it’s not. We also have a tendency to overcommit, get distracted by unhealthy activities like watching TV or simply don’t feel worthy of the best things — and you are.

Thankfully, there are simple ways for you to finally prioritize yourself. And, here’s where you can start.

Take a “me” moment.

Like my sister and her car, why wait until there’s a problem? Instead, make prioritizing a part of your routine. “Self-care is simply every day, healthy rituals that keep your body and mind energized,” Alexia Brue, co-founder, and CEO of Well+Good, told Forbes.

“It could be as simple as going to bed every night at the same time, scheduling a regular massage or lighting candles and taking a pause,” adds Brue. “It’s finding whatever recharges you, and then incorporating it as a ritual into your life.”

Do you feel so crunched for time that this isn’t feasible? Well, in a previous Calendar article, Choncé Maddox gave the following suggestions on how to add a self-care routine to your calendar:

Book self-care appointments first thing in the morning before you get sidetracked. It will also make you feel energized and boost your productivity for the day.
Time block your schedule. “Choose a time of day to block out just for self-care,” recommends Choncé. “This can be 30 minutes, one hour, or several hours if you’ve already finished up with work and other responsibilities for the day.”
“When it comes to making room for self-care, you can turn your self-care routine into a system that you can easily schedule in when necessary,” adds Choncé. For example, when you take breaks into work-related tasks, you could go for a walk, meditate, or journal.
Start small, such as claiming 5 to 10 minutes per day for yourself.

Increase your emotional intelligence.

“Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize our feelings, emotions, and moods to better identify what we are feeling and why,” says Jen Shirkani, keynote speaker and author of “Ego vs. EQ” and “Choose Resilience.”

“By [doing that], we can channel our emotions to respond in healthy, intelligent ways rather than allowing our emotions to take over and undermine us,” adds Shirkani.

Schedule times throughout the day to check-in on your feelings. If you feel stressed or anxious, then you may want to take a step back to acknowledge and address these feelings. It could be something as simple as going for a walk or talking to a friend. That may mean rescheduling a conference call or task. But, it’s better than letting these feelings bottle up and explode.

Watch your language.

“Language can have a profound effect on your thoughts, moods, and perspective,” notes the team at Jody Michael Associates. “It’s not just what comes out of your mouth in conversations with others; the messages you tell yourself play an essential role in how you feel.”

In all fairness, it’s easy to fall into the trap of beating yourself up when you fail. Instead of labeling yourself as a “failure” or “incompetent,” treat yourself with compassion. You can do this by encouraging “yourself in the same way that you would a child or a good friend. If you tell yourself ‘You’ve got this!’ often enough, you will get it!”

Take a break from social media.

Yeah. It’s easy to take shots at social media these days. But, even if you don’t permanently quit, it’s easy to understand why people are reducing the time spent on these platforms.

On top of privacy concerns, damaging your reputation, and being distracting, social media can increase anxiety and depression. It can also reduce the amount of sleep that you get. And, it’s a poor use of downtime. As opposed to spending over an hour a day on social media, you could spend that time taking care of your well-being.

If you can’t delete your accounts, you can at least limit your exposure by uninstalling the apps on your phone. If that’s not an option, then banish them from your home screen. You could use apps like Freedom, SelfControl, or Offtime that block these channels when you don’t want to be distracted. And, you could also delegate or automate your social media responsibilities.

Recite empowering mantras.

Are you not prioritizing yourself because of guilt? If so, recite empowering mantras. These have the ability to boost your self-worth and motivate you to attend to your own needs.

Here are a six mantras, courtesy of Shine, that you can try out today:

“I deserve joy.”
“I am important.”
“When I pour into myself, I can shine my light onto others.”
“I am worthy of all the things that bring me happiness.”
“I can make time to nourish my mind, body, and spirit.”

Phase-out the negative and stress in your life.

Carve out a piece time, preferably when you’re not focused on something important, to evaluate the things in life that are causing you stress. Are they truly important to you? If not, you may want to start cutting them out of your life. For example, if there is a friend who consumes too much of your time and energy, you may want to distance yourself from their negativity.

If you’re not satisfied with your career, you may want to search for a new job. Or, you may even want to take the limb and start your own business. It may be nerve-racking. But, you don’t necessarily have to quit your job today. You could browse openings or have a side hustle until it takes off.

Learn how to say “no.”

Putting your foot down and standing your ground is probably the most effective way to prioritize yourself. If you don’t say “no,” then you’ll always put other’s wants and needs ahead of your own. Not only is this time-consuming, but you’ll also always be behind on your work. And, it prevents you from doing the things that you actually want to do.

The good thing is that you can say “no” to others without offending them. You can achieve this by being honest and straightforward with them. They may be disappointed. But, they should understand and respect your decision.

You could also have a policy. For example, Friday nights are reserved for your family. No exceptions. So, if a friend from college wanted to get together, you would have to offer an alternative like Saturday night.

Remember your why.

In the hustle and bustle of daily life, it’s easy to lose track of your why. But, slow down and think about why you get out of bed every morning. Why do you go to work, hit the gym, or strive for learning opportunities?

Reconnecting with your why puts things in perspective. It can reignite your passion. It motivates you to achieve your goals. And, it will encourage you to put yourself first.

Reflect and accept who you are.

I’m not gonna lie. It’s never easy to admit your faults. But, when you’re transparent with yourself, you can look for ways to grow. At the same time, you don’t have to just focus on your shortcomings. Every day discover something new that you like about yourself. Besides giving you a self-esteem boost, you can also look for opportunities to put your strengths to good use.

Accepting who are means acknowledging your strengths and weaknesses. From there, you can spend your time devoted to what you can and can not change.

Schedule downtime.

Finally, make it a point to schedule downtime. Start by taking 15-minute breaks between tasks at work. When you’re done for the day, leave work where it belongs — the office. Instead, spend your evenings with your family or just relaxing. And, during the weekends, do things that you genuinely enjoy.