How to switch off when your home is your office

I lost count of the amount of times I heard the words ‘work/life balance’ when I was in my last office job, and I was pretty good at taking lunch breaks when I was there (although that was the only semblance of balance I had there!). I also never worked at home so when I left the office it was me saying goodbye to work for the day too.

But since I set up my VA biz back in 2016 I’ve found it's super hard at times to strike a balance between work and home life, and even harder to switch off when you’re basically in the office all the time.

There are a few things that I’ve found work really well and as I always encourage the VAs I mentor to make their overall happiness and wellbeing a top priority, I thought I’d share these with you too.

Treat it like a real business

There are definite upsides to running your own VA biz (erm….I love it) and one of those is that you get to set your own schedule and pick where you work. BUT although it can be super tempting to set yourself up on the sofa and work in your pjs all day, longer term you’ll be far more productive if you treat your business like a business and structure your day accordingly. When you do that it means you’ll get more done, feel more accomplished and feel better about switching off too.

Although you don’t have to worry about things like taking your lunch break within a set timeframe (which was my corporate life for years - yawn), it’ll help you keep on track if you have some kind of structure to your day, even if it changes throughout the week. So:

Get dressed and sit at a table or desk if you can (the odd ‘balance your laptop on the sofa’ is fine once in a while!)
Block time in your calendar to work on each thing
Block time for when you’re taking time out (and stick with it!)

Which leads me on to…..

Taking breaks

Go for a walk, have a coffee, read a book…….whatever you choose to do, take a break every day. In fact, take breaks often and don’t let yourself feel guilty about it.

Your brain needs to recharge and that’s not going to happen if you stare at your computer screen for 8 hours a day. There are plenty of schools of thought when it comes to the best work:break ratio, so try out a few formats until you find the style that’s best for you. I know that I work best first thing in the morning and I have a bit of a lull during the early afternoon, so I usually take a longer break when I know I’m least productive.

Here are a few suggestions for getting more done AND taking restful breaks:

Try the Pomodoro technique – work for 25 minutes then take a 5 minute break and do the whole thing again until you take a longer break after a few cycles
Go Swedish and enjoy fika (coffee, cake and a break……my favourite!)
Then go ahead and read this article on the importance of taking breaks (and why you definitely shouldn’t feel guilty about doing it)

Get some processes in place

At the beginning of your VA journey it’s natural to want to do everything yourself. And actually, it’s kind of necessary! It’s best to learn how to do your everyday stuff yourself AND you’re the only one with the complete vision of your business (this isn’t the same for mentoring btw - I’m talking everyday processes here). As your business grows you may be in the position to build a team and delegate (if you want to, that is. No pressure here). In the meantime make the best use of your time by streamlining your processes and automating whatever you can, whether that’s standard email responses, scheduling your social media posts, using tools like Acuity to book client calls etc. Make your life easier wherever you can so your switching off time is that little bit easier.

Manage expectations

It’s great for your clients to see you as reliable and responsive but there’s a fine line between being reliable and being constantly available. In the beginning of a client relationship or in the midst of a big project it’s easy to get in the habit of replying to emails immediately, no matter what the time. If your 24 hour availability is something you’ve marketed (crazy person) then crack on! But if you want to steer clear of being expected to be ‘on call’, then start as you mean to go on.

Only want to work on Mondays and Tuesdays? Then only be contactable on those days. Need to work only when the kids are at school? Then make that clear from the beginning. You can inform clients of your working hours and style in your initial consultation and you can reiterate this in your terms of business. And remember, if you experience a negative reaction when you state your working hours then it might be worth considering whether this client is a good fit for you.

Which leads me on to…….

It’s ok to say no

It feels a little against the grain to do this as a business owner, but sometimes it’s a good thing to say no. Unless you have a world-dominating sized business you simply cannot take on every piece of work that comes your way. And nor should you!

If a piece of work comes your way (or a client, a referral etc), ask yourself these questions: