With the covid pandemic still going strong, WFH has become the norm in recent times, and, as a more structural shift in the way modern software related companies conduct their business took place, it has become the standard also for the future. This means that there are many companies adopting remote-first work and opening their workforce to fully remote positions, for eg. Spotify. What this means is that the opportunities for interesting work have now become globally accessible to anyone no matter where they are within the world.

While this is good on one hand, there are also some downsides for many people. The shift from office work to the WFH model was quite abrupt given the circumstances of the pandemic, and, while some people had no trouble adjusting, others struggled and still struggle with the fact that they are away from the offices and work suddenly flooded their home and personal space and lives.

This can put a huge toll on mental health of some people as they start facing challenges when trying to separate work from personal life which can lead to higher burnout rates and other more complicated problems. It’s of high importance to prioritize your mental health while at work, and, given the current WFH that becomes even more important. While the tips on how to do it can vary depending on your job, I will focus on the aspects that I find myself trying to practice when I feel tiredness kicking in or having trouble focusing.

I have to admit that I personally find it hard, at times, to fully disconnect from work, even more so while working from home and tackling large tasks, but, I’ve seen and heard of people burning out and it is a real issue. Since this seems to be an important topic, I will share some tips that help me managing this new way of working:

Leave work at work

It’s a serious problem when you are busy with some task and want to finish it asap. We all know how it goes… Just one more new test, just run one more pipeline and I’ll push, etc. That’s easy to say and do, but, it’s even easier to get sucked into the work when small things need patching or validation annd its easy to make the hours pile up and before you know it, you are working overtime.

If it helps you, as it helps me, attempt to plan the work for the day-to-day in a way that you can “wrap up” in a nice way on time and close that “mental door” so you can fully disconnect from work:

• define a chunk of work you can complete in 1/2 a working day: write a new test suite, make a PR for a bug fix, etc. The rest of the working day is likely to be filled with meetings, ad-hoc tasks and helping colleagues, reviewing code, etc, so, plan work in a way where you know you can put in a nice, focused work block to wrap up a given task within a working day. Even if not fully finished, you will have a great overview of your progress, write it down, adjust tasks for next day accordingly and don’t do overtime;

• don’t take on every single task: sometimes, it pays off to be assertive and say no to have a well-planned day that can leave you reaching the end of the working day with a nice feeling of mission accomplished.

Exercise and move!

It’s natural to adopt an even MORE sedentary life style under the new WFH way of working than before, because its extremely enticing to simply stay home and move between couch and working room, upstairs and downstairs to get food and nothing else… This can be fine for a while, but, in the long run, it can put a huge toll on your mental health especially with work that is so hard on the mind and focus as writing software is.

Try and move more! Enrolling in your local gym, running or walking outside, is extremely beneficial. It allows you to leave your normal surroundings for a while, breath fresh air and get fit which also helps to unload a lot of the mental load accrued during the working hours.

It keeps your spirits high and you know the saying: mens sana in corpore sano - healthy mind in a healthy body. Taking care of your physical health plays a huge impact in managing your mental health.

Don’t be hard on yourself

There will be days when you will feel that you aren’t being as productive as you could be, and that’s okay!

Not everyone will be always 100% productive and its important to understand that your best fluctuates over time, so, your best today can be different than tomorrow and it’s all fine! It’s important to celebrate small wins and take it easy on yourself. Learn to manage your own expectations and things will flow much better and easily for you.

Empathize with others

It’s important to be able to practice empathy also as a way of managing your own mental health. When you try to put yourself in the other person’s shoes, you will be able to understand better what can cause stress and frustration and will be in a better position to avoid these potential issues for yourself. It also makes both collaboration and solving conflicts easier if people can be all on the same page about how their colleagues are feeling and handling the isolation and WFH derived from the pandemic.

Conclusion

The pandemic has taken its toll on many people who were used to a different routine and were suddenly faced with a big change and sometimes, adjusting to it while still maintaining productivity and a healthy work-life balance can be very challenging and bring some problems when not handled appropriately. These are some small suggestions that might help ease the burden of people who are in need of a change and breath of fresh air in these trying times.

_PS: disclaimer: I am not a therapist or know enough to help or diagnose people who developed and/or suffered from depression as a result of the pandemic instead of simply feeling tired and or low on energy. For more serious cases or to get an appropriate diagnosis, seeing a doctor is always the best option. Stay safe out there!