COVID-19 pandemic has changed a lot of things, including our perspective of what’s normal. This might be the beginning of a new normal for all of us. With every state and country enforcing lockdown to curb the spread of this outbreak, many businesses have invoked and enabled working from home for their workforce, wherever they can.

Working from home never felt like a challenge if you would have asked yourself few months ago, but as days go by, you realise it’s not as easy as you thought it would.

So, why is working from home so hard?

The Mindset

Home is where we relax. Home is a place where we take rest, eat food and watch our favourite TV show. Our brain’s recollection of home is associated with relaxation. And when we have to work from home, it is difficult for our mind to break the normal routine and introduce a new culture.

Loneliness

No coworkers, no managers, no office gossips. Some people love solitude while working while most of us are habitual to see and talk to our coworkers at work. It gets difficult if that is suddenly taken away from you. Lack of human interaction can lead an adverse affect on your morale and mindset.

Interruptions

Family, children, pets, will come and interrupt. If you live alone, you will need a dedicated time to prepare your meals, in your work day.

We end up overworking

While most of the managers feel that an employee working from home may be slacking off. It is the other way around. Working from home requires an additional effort of adjusting our mindset and habit. This drains a lot of energy than you think. The work may not be as seamless as it used to be. Internet downtimes, technology hiccups, communication issues etc will need additional attention to be resolved. Time management becomes challenging.

It is not easy, yes. You may have figured it out by now.

The goal of this post is not to demotivate you. The first step to solve a problem is to identify them. This is the first step.

I will share another post soon with best hacks to be productive at home.