5 Tips to Maintain Your Sanity While Working from Home

Working from home can be the biggest blessing or it can be a nightmare in disguise that ravishes the mind with the many pressures of an unproductive and unstimulating environment.

WFH came as a glorious savior during COVID-19 that completely transformed every business industry. At one point, it was considered the future utopia, where there would be no offices and everyone would work from home to protect the environment as part of a sustainable work culture.

For the most part, the trend has only grown in the recent past for first-world and developing nations. According to recent research and estimates by ResearchGate, “70% of the global workforce will work remotely at least five days a month by 2025.”

A Comparison

Most people thrive in a remote environment and usually are more productive than in a strict office environment. Much of this is credited to the extra time, effort, and energy they save by eliminating daily commutes, but holistically, the basic purpose of remote work is to provide a better work-life balance where you are well-equipped to tackle or juggle between the many challenges of professional and personal life.

According to a recent survey, “90% of employees are as productive, or more, working remotely when compared to the office”. Similarly, “97% of people working remotely would recommend remote work to others”, a point that signifies that all is well in the state of Denmark. However, like everything, there are two sides to a picture.

All of us here understand the concept of opportunity cost, for every good thing we always have to give up on something that holds the same value. So, at the end of the day, remote work might not be suitable for people who thrive in a collaborative and interactive environment. Pioneers who generate ideas and strategies through consistent learning and positive collaboration.

Similarly, some people simply cannot manage work at home and give up under the many pressures of personal life, ultimately compromising the quality and integrity of their work which ends up as a huge disaster on all personal, mental, and professional fronts.

But when the reality of an unsustainable system hits you, things start to fall apart, and the center cannot hold. Your mental peace is gone and you are left at the mercy of your psyche that craves attention, association, and the many joys of a collaborative, positive, and stimulating work culture.

Nonetheless, WFH or remote work today is an inescapable reality you can’t escape. If your boss requests you to work from home then you have to work from home. It’s as simple as that. For your convenience, we have created a list of a few transformative tips that will allow you to stay collaborative, energetic, and productive in a WFH environment.

Declutter Your Workspace

The very thing you need to do is create a proper workspace that has all the essentials you need to achieve your daily objectives. Another important must-have is fast-speed internet as without it your life will be miserable. For you to bring out the best in yourself in a remote environment, the ultimate prerequisite of the WFH environment has to be as youthful, prolific, and electric as you are.

A great option that is already quite popular among the remote community is Xfinity Internet. For more information, their customer service team can be reached round the clock.  

Yoga, Breakfast, Dress Up!

A good start and a positive mindset are all you need to bring out the magic in you. Start with getting yourself off the bed and gathering your thoughts in natural light while drinking loads of water.

Next, get ready for chow time. No need to bother the better half with any inconvenience. Just start cooking them eggs sunny side up and hit the bath with cold water to stimulate the mind for work.

To-Do-List & Give Yourself Breaks

Following the majestic cold shower, sit down at your desk and plan the whole that includes both work and personal chores that hold the same importance.

Break down the tasks and start working on them. Remember taking short breaks in between only increases your productivity so don’t consider it a waste of time.

Team Chat & Calls (And Not Just for Work)

Communicate with your teammates just for fun. Tease them, ask them what’s going on with their lives.

Working in a company is not just all about work. Remember the proverb, “All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.” Well, Uncle Sam could never be more right.

Set Boundaries

You need to make sure that the area is as comfortable as possible and is not the center of activity or family shenanigans.

Play comforting music in the background to comfort the soul, release endorphins, keep focus, and avoid any background noise.

Finish Work on Time

Lastly, always finish your work on the assigned day and make sure you don’t have a backlog that you would need to cover on the weekend.

Wrapping Up,

It’s best that you adopt a hybrid model that not only provides the relative comfort of work-life balance but at the same time keeps you connected with a collaborative, competitive, learning-focused, and detail-oriented culture. 

4-day work week among ideas to improve work-life balance (Singapore)

Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/politics/4-day-work-week-among-ideas-to-improve-work-life-balance-here

Sounds like a good idea, to improve work-life balance and potentially solve several other problems like low birth rate (which will alleviate the problem of aging society).

Many people have the illusion that industrialization and technology have improved the work-life balance of ordinary workers, however the reality is quite the opposite.

Before industrialization, workers worked less hours and had more leisure time.

Before capitalism, most people did not work very long hours at all. The tempo of life was slow, even leisurely; the pace of work relaxed. Our ancestors may not have been rich, but they had an abundance of leisure. When capitalism raised their incomes, it also took away their time.

Source: http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/rauch/worktime/hours_workweek.html

The worst period seems to be right in the middle of the industrial revolution, the mid 1800s. Workers worked up to 70 hour work weeks (with low pay). Most of the profit went to the rich capitalists.

One of capitalism’s most durable myths is that it has reduced human toil.

http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/rauch/worktime/hours_workweek.html

Jack Ma once said:

People could work as little as three days a week, four hours a day with the help of technology.

Jack Ma (Economic Times)

Will this age ever come? Note that Jack Ma in another speech endorsed China’s 996 culture, which is to work from 9am to 9pm six days a week (CNN).

Philosophically, it seems that no technology will be able to eliminate work? It is the so called “Adam’s curse”:

He told the man, “Because you have listened to what your wife said, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ cursed is the ground because of you. You’ll eat from it through pain-filled labor for the rest of your life.

International Standard Version

Canon PIXMA G5020 (G5070) Review

Canon Most Ink Efficient Printer

Just bought this printer (Canon PIXMA G5020, which is listed in Singapore as Canon PIXMA G5070). It is ideal for home use for students and working professionals.

Its advantages include:

  • Very efficient “ink tank” system. The ink refill system is by bottles of pure ink liquid instead of cartridges.
  • Design for high volume printing at low running cost
  • Compact size and dimensions (Approx. 403 x 369 x 166 mm for factory configuration,  Approx. 403 x 695 x 356 mm when Output/ADF trays extended)
  • Dual paper loading (you can load paper on the rear tray as well as the front tray). If you retract the rear tray, the printer becomes even more compact (just 16.6cm tall).
  • High speed (for inkjet): ISO standard print speed (A4): up to 13.0ipm black / 6.8 ipm colour
  • Supports wireless connection to computer as well as smart phone.
  • Automatic Duplex


Canon PIXMA G5020 Wireless MegaTank Single Function SuperTank Printer | Mobile & Auto 2-Sided Printing

Overall, this is the ideal printer for work from home, as well as homeschool purposes. It is even more ideal for those who don’t want additional features such as scanner and fax. By not having those features (which you may not need), it has a very economical affordable cost. Especially when you factor in the long term savings from cheap and long-lasting ink refills.

If you do want copier, fax and scanning features, then you can consider the Canon PIXMA G7020 instead, which is basically the Canon G5020 with the additional features.


Canon PIXMA G7020 Wireless All-in-One Supertank (Megatank) Printer, Copier, Scan, Fax and ADF with Mobile Printing, Black