Discover Your IKIGAI with these Work From Home Tips

Author: Priyanka Saxena on Apr 13,2020

IKIGAI is a Japanese concept. Discovering your IKIGAI is about discovering the secret concept to a Happy & fulfilling Life. 

So, how can you relate IKIGAI to anything like the Work From Home concept? In fact, one can relate this concept to anything. 

As the world is facing the crisis of Coronavirus, almost 99.99% of corporations & organizations have directed their employees to work from home (except for a few essential goods suppliers & medical professionals).

While a day or two of work from Home is good enough, when you are asked to continue with for weeks & months, it becomes way too lethargic. 

But, until the effect goes down, we have no way but to work from home. So, the wise way to deal with this situation is to find happiness in distress. Find ways, you can enjoy this concept of working from home. 

For your convenience, we have prepared this list of how you can find your Work from Home IKIGAi. Read below to find. Here we go:

Place Your Workstation alongside the Source of Natural Light

So, if you are good enough in finding good things in every situation then you will look for good things about working from home. This is where your IKIGAI must work!

Imagine the freedom that you are getting while working from home! While there was almost no flexibility with your workstation in the office, you have enormous opportunities at home to experiment with your workstation and where it must be.

You can place your workstation at any part of the home and at anything of the day. However, the best location is near a source of natural light - probably a door or a king-sized window. This is quite helpful in killing the enemy of fatigue and the dark feeling of confinement. 

If there is limited space in your home, the strategy, however, can be tricky. But, anyways you have at least the freedom to do whatever way you want it to be done. Unlike with the workstation in the office, you do not have to feel stuck in one single place.

Customize your Work Schedule

You have not yet realized, because you are not used to it. But, work from home can give you a lot of “Me time”, that you must have been missing from a longer period of time. 

You have all the time to customize your work as per your convenience (of course keeping in mind the office instructions). But, irrespective of anything, you always have the freedom to tweak it around your “Me Time”.

Unlike in office, you do not need to start it off so much immediately. You can take your time, relax, meditate, exercise, sip your cup of coffee and then start with a refreshed mind. This will enhance your work efficiency tremendously and you will enjoy your work.

Create Your Working Den or Area

To have that professionalism alive within, you can create your own working den. Separate this part of the home from other areas and designate it as your working space. Make sure that people can enter your working den only with your permission. If possible, buy a desktop computer for office work. Use desktop computers for office work rather than laptops. Take care of other working accessories like mouse and keyboard. This strategy will help enhance your efficiency of work.

Take Short, Frequent Breaks

Taking short breaks is another way of enhancing productivity and loving your work. Medical experts have always emphasized on taking short breaks as sitting at a single place is not good for your physical as well as the mental wellness of your body. 

While working from your workplace, you rarely have this flexibility of taking breaks, but whenever you work from home, you can take breaks anytime you wish to (of course the way it does not hamper the work). 

It is always a good idea to take 5 to 15 minutes of break after every hour of continuous work. This is supposedly one of the best ways to enhance your productivity and creativity. So, after every hour of continuous work get away from your laptop, go get some snacks for yourself, grab a glass of water, stretch your body, and take small naps if you feel exhausted (put your alarm on in this case).

Fix Your Working Hour

Make sure that when you are working, you are just working and keeping other things at bay. This is specifically applicable to the ones who are using the same space both for working as well as for living. 

When you mix up other responsibilities with professional responsibilities, there is a mess. This brings you to a position where you would neither be able to fulfill your work obligations nor home or family obligations. 

So, if you are taking care of other responsibilities apart from office work, you must make sure to segregate your time for everything you are taking care of. You must, therefore, fix your working hours and avoid doing anything else in that part of the day. It helps you love whatever you do and discover your IKIGAI, the secret of happiness.

Act a little Harder with Yourself

You need to impose self-made restrictions on yourself when you are working. In case of work from home, there could be a huge number of distractions that you have to deal with on your own. No boss is going to tell you or interrupt you every time. 

So, there are things you must take care of -

1.A big NO No to set up the workstation near the Television.

2.Some people hope to work by muting the TV, but that should also be a NO option.

3.When you are into work, put aside your phone and say no to checking new updates (this will kill a lot of your time).

4.You do not have your friends around, so you may wish to check updates from them every hour. But must be avoided.

Slowly & gradually, you have to identify your drawbacks (faced during work from home) and tweak them as per your self-imposed restrictions & guidelines.

So, these are some of the most effective ways of discovering your IKIGAI while you work from home. It is not always bad. There are too many good things about working from home if there are bad things about keeping away from your workplace & colleagues.