Bad habits may or may not have formed during the entire period spent on lockdown. Millions of people around the world were forced to work from their homes and away from each other due to the coronavirus pandemic of 2020. As part of the quarantine protocols, thousands upon thousands of different businesses that were non-essential were given the opportunity to work remotely. By the middle of the year, at least 42% of all working people worked at home. You are considered lucky if you were given a chance to work remotely. Roughly one out of every three people became unemployed in the same span.
Nevertheless: to the delight of many, people have begun to discover that work can be done even while away from the office. With the help of modern technology, teamwork overcame adversity. There is a rough estimate that one out of every four office workers will continue working from home from 2021 to 2025.
How Remote Work Affects Employees
The setup does not come without a cost, however. Working from home, indeed, has taken its toll on many office employees. Without the socialization needed from other people, most have begun feeling exhausted, worn-out, depressed, and anxious even while inside the comforts of their own homes. The pandemic dragged on forever, to the anxiety of the communities, unfortunately. Job stress became associated with the four corners of one’s home.
Bad habits because of working from home may have probably formed because of the COVID-19 uncertainty and burnout. Because of these stressors, you may have experienced irritation, lethargy, insomnia, and lack of focus, which are becoming common among those working from home. Bad habits are extremely easy to form because they are convenient everyday stuff you do not notice anymore. As we inch closer and closer to the Post-COVID-19 success year, the likelihood of returning to work becomes higher. How do we rid ourselves of these so-called bad habits? How can we prepare ourselves to go back to actual work?
While the stigma of working from home has vanished from the conversation, the fear still lingers because there is some truth to it: working from home makes lousy employees. Employees were feared to be lousier, more unmotivated, and overall unproductive. There can be some truth to it.
The bad habit of lacking focus and concentration on the task at hand may have developed due to the pandemic. There are a lot of distractions available inside one’s home. With the advent of cheaper technology, gadgets come cheap and accessible. Accessing them during off times can really stifle your motivation and concentration. It can sometimes happen to people.
As you are in your pajamas or your house wear, you begin to slowly assimilate both office work life and home life. Variety is important when working from home. According to studies, people are more productive when they wear their office clothes appropriately during work hours, even in their homes. It is important to appropriate yourself to the office setting to build up a good habit of still being neat and confident even while at home.
Coping with the Changes in the Pandemic
Tidiness is next to godliness. It is important that even if you are merely living alone in your apartment, you should always be clean, neat, and tidy. The bad habit of not caring and simply just throwing everything around whenever you please is a horrible habit that you should immediately cease doing right away. Tidiness ensures that most plans are clearly laid out and easily followed. Your living quarters are your private space — it is your own temple.
Similar to how you shouldn’t be allowing junk to fester inside a loved one’s body, always looking out for stuff to clean is important for one’s mental health. A clear place is a clear mind. Similar to how cleaning the air ducts cleanses your entire building or house of gunk, dust, and dirt, cleaning your place can also clear your head. Truly, the room is the reflection of a person’s character.
It is unfortunate, in a way, that most of us go to work remotely and completely not interact normally compared to how we would pre-pandemic. Since everything is held online, the longing for people to talk with someone is on the rise. Human beings are social beings. We need some communication with everyone else. Removing the bad habit of keeping to yourself and not enabling yourself to communicate better may be one of the habits that may have formed because of the pandemic. Getting yourself enough practice and participating well in group gatherings will help you get back on track when returning to the new normal.
