For many people, freelancing or working from home is ideal. You don’t need to commute, and you have full control over your schedule and your work. However, there are also setbacks to working at home, and one of them is separating our personal life from our work life. 

Without clear boundaries, it will be easy for one or the other to bleed through and affect your focus. It will also prevent you from spending time with your family and friends and from making time for what you love. It is also not impossible for you to burn out the longer you let your work breach into your personal life. 

But how can you create the divide to keep your work away from your personal life? Check out the tips we listed below: 

Have Parallel Schedules

As a freelancer, it can be very tempting to work nonstop or work when the rest of the family is not around. While it may seem like a good idea at first, since you will be taking advantage of the free time you will get, it can be dangerous because you may end up losing time for your family and for yourself. 

It is important to have a lot of time with your family rather than split your focus between work and family. If you want to maximise your day, you can use parallel schedules to help you with work. In this schedule, you work during the time your family is at work or school, then log off when they get back home. This will show your loved ones that you care about them and would like to be a part of their day. However, you need to remember that you should focus on work during your set work hours in order to be ready to log off once they arrive. 

Be Clear When to Sign Off

Since you have full control over your time, it can be easy to lose track and continue working nonstop. Once you take a pause and check the clock, you may end up noticing you have worked more than you should and cause your body to lose the body clock you set for yourself. 

Your body also follows a schedule, and as adults, you need to have one to stay consistent and identify the right tasks to focus on for that day. If we don’t have a pause in our schedule, it will disable you from keeping your work under control and getting started on your next task. With a stopping point in your schedule and following it religiously, you can keep everything in check and ensure that you have time for yourself and your loved ones. 

Have Cues to Mark The End of the Workday

If you find it hard to stop working because you don’t look at the clock or you are not interpreting your body’s signals, having triggers or cues can help you out. Once you have a schedule set and abide by it religiously, your body will be able to send signals to your brain and help you know that the workday is complete. If you are not sure about these body cues, take the time to observe your body’s responses throughout your schedule. When you pick up the cues, then you should move to your personal activities and take a rest. 

You can also build triggers in your routines, which your body will unconsciously do as you do them. For example, you can add in your routine a five-minute clean-up of your office or get a reminder set for all the tasks you need to do for the next day. As you fulfil your routine, you will notice the separation between your work and personal life since your mind will be able to relax and refocus. 

Close Your Doors

Whether you are in a traditional office or in your home office, you should do your best to remove all of the distractions to the best of your ability. For your home office, removing these distractions can also help you separate your personal life from your work. 

One way you can remove distractions from your home office is by seeing your personal spaces. You can easily remove this from your view by closing your office door. This will help your mind focus on your work and be in a work mindset. For your family, the closed doors will let them know not to disturb you, as it is your work schedule. Once you are done, you should close the door of the office so that you don’t have to see your workspace until the next day. 

If you do not have a separate workspace, you can create a distinct separation between your personal space and your workspace with the help of bookshelves or screens. If this is not possible, you can clean up after your chosen space to help remove your work from your sight after your schedule. 

Have a Screen-free Schedule Set

You should take advantage of screen-free time to help you regain control of your personal time and work schedule. A screen-free time means that you block off a part of your schedule where you will not touch any of your gadgets and do offline tasks to bond with your family. Some phones can help you achieve this through a special app or by scheduling a do-not-disturb mode for your phone. If you need ideas on what to do during these screen-free schedules, you can play board games, take a walk or use the time to talk to the rest of the family to catch up on their day. 

Since you have full control over your work, it can be very easy to lose yourself in work while working from home. However, you need to remember that you should separate your work from your personal life so you too can achieve the work-life balance that can help you in the future. Use the tips above to change your work strategy, and you will notice how easy it is to manage your time while working at home.