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How a 'fake commute' can help separate WFM & your off time at home

More folks will be transitioning back to the workplace. A 'fake commute' may help the transition.

There's “a thing” some folks are doing to separate their work from home time and their off-time. It's called the fake commute.

For example, Danielle is a teacher. She gets up, leaves her house to go to her favorite coffee shop as she would have before COVID, and then she heads to her job. Her job is of course at home now. So why the charade?

"It separates my home and my work. I feel like being in the house all the time, there were days that would go by that I just like, ‘Wow, I haven't left the house in five days,” said Danielle.

The fake commute may work for folks. Here's what a psychology professor says about it.  

"Research shows that this idea of segmentation, so keeping work and home life separate tend to have some beneficial effects for work, life balance,” says Kristen Shockley, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Georgia.

With more businesses opening up, kids now back in school for some time each week, are there things you are doing to transition to prepare yourself? Some folks say just getting fully dressed helps make a difference after months of wearing PJ's on the bottom. 

A few weeks ago, a healthy work-life balance was a trending topic on Twitter and WFMY's Maddie Gardner wrote about it. 

#TakeTimeBack is trending on Twitter – it’s a push to encourage a healthy work, life balance. That’s been more difficult than ever with working from home. The lines between work and life have been blurred so greatly during the pandemic that it’s hard to notice where your job starts and your personal life begins. But working from home shouldn’t mean working relentlessly.

People online are sharing their tips for finding that separation – they range from practical things like setting an alarm for the start and end of the workday, taking a lunch break if you get one, and getting up and moving around to break up the time.

But they’re also sharing advice. One Twitter user said, "This work from home thing has always made people feel like they have to be 'on' at all times. We don’t. We need to take 'us' time."

Another said, “Pushing yourself too hard can cause you to burn out. We’re still in weird times, so push yourself – but learn to know when to take a break… and take it. Your future self will thank you.”

 

    

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