The Importance of Routine in WFH

If you think Covid restrictions are not affecting you that much – think again.

One of the more subtle but telling challenges of WFH is the loss of a natural winding-up and winding-down routine.

I don’t know about you, but the 30-minute commute in the morning from home to work gave me just the right amount of time to review the day ahead and make my daily phone calls to my mother and brother.

Likewise, the commute from work to home allowed me to listen to some jazz music and quietly process the events of the day.

These seemingly trivial rituals are vital for mental and emotional well being. They help us to demarcate between our work and family domains. They also provide the vital whitespace we need to integrate our experiences into a cohesive narrative.

What happens when familiar rituals are deleted? Initially, not much. But even over the medium-term – if you’re not careful – the loss of these routines can deeply impact your psychological well being as well as your work performance.

As WH Auden once observed: routine in an intelligent person is a sign of ambition.

So don’t let WFH turn into WTF. Re-establish the routines that have served you well so far. Adapt but don’t delete them. They will pay you back in spades.