Mindfulness in remote jobs is easy to achieve if you want to, but more difficult to practice if you’re not trying. It includes creating a mindful morning routine, preparing a dedicated workspace, limiting multitasking, taking breaks, and doing mindfulness exercises. Let’s talk about it in more detail.
Mindfulness Strategies for Remote Workers
So, what are the best mindfulness strategies for those working in remote jobs? Here’s our list!
Mindful Morning Routine
Preparing a morning routine isn’t only good for mindfulness but also for improving the effectiveness of remote work. But what does it mean in practice?
Manage your schedule so that you have some time before work to slow down. During this time, focus on your emotions and on what’s going on around you. Combine this with breathing exercises, meditation, or yoga. You don’t need a lot of time to do that – just a couple of minutes will be fine, depending on what works best for you.
Set up a Dedicated Workspace
One of the key aspects of mindfulness for remote workspace is finding a place at home that will be dedicated purely to work and in line with the mindfulness practices. This may vary depending on each person.
Some people prefer a silent home office since hearing is the most important sense to them. For others, it’s important that the space is neat, tidy, and decorated in an attractive way. There might even be people who embrace smell and need scent candles or sticks in their remote workspace. You need to discover what does the trick for you and prepare your home office accordingly.
It’s important that you stick to this one particular workspace. For instance, if you love silence and opted for a home booth, avoid working outside of it. If you choose a small corner in your living room, don’t take your laptop anywhere else and stick to that place. Your workspace should be sacred if you want to embrace mindfulness in remote jobs to the fullest.
Limit Multitasking
Since mindfulness at work is all about focusing on the here and now, multitasking is your enemy. And in remote jobs, it becomes even more dangerous.
Just imagine quite an ordinary situation: cooking lunch while working from home. You need to focus both on your tasks and check out the food every now and then to make sure that you don’t burn it. That’s just one of the many examples showing that multitasking is quite common for remote workers. But it doesn’t mean that it’s unavoidable.
If you want to limit multitasking, just plan in advance. Going back to our example, you can prepare lunch in the evening and then warm it up the next day rather than during office hours. This way, you’ll be able to focus more on the now and embrace mindfulness.
Take Breaks
You won’t embrace mindfulness, no matter whether in remote or traditional jobs, if you don’t take breaks. These are the perfect times to slow down, do some mindfulness exercises, or focus on your emotions.
Don’t worry – you don’t have to take long breaks, a few minutes will be sufficient. During such a break, it’s good to go outside (if you can) and do nothing in particular – just focus on yourself, your emotions, and the things around you.
Mindful Exercises
Another way to embrace mindfulness for remote workers is to do short mindful exercises. How to do that?
- Focus on your breath, stretch your body, pay attention to your senses, and try to spot things that you haven’t spotted before.
- Meditate in a quiet place.
- Cut off from the outside world and think about your emotions – what are you feeling in that moment, how does it affect you?
- Grab a snack and practice mindful eating – focusing on what you are holding, what it smells like, what its texture is (both against your hands and your tongue).
- Stare at the center of a shifting pattern or color (you may find some online). Let your mind wander as you are focused on a particular point.
- Walk through your garden, focusing on each step, what you feel under your feet, and what sounds surround you.
These exercises will help you practice mindfulness while working remotely and embrace its principles – living in the moment!
The Takeaway
Embracing mindfulness in remote jobs might have its challenges, as you face many more distractions than in an office. Yet, with a bit more flexible time and the right approach, you can still practice mindfulness as a remote worker and harvest the benefits that come with it. Limit multitasking, manage a mindful morning schedule, design your workspace, and do mindful exercise – you will see the difference in your mental state in no time.
You should also read: Benefits of Practicing Mindfulness in the Workplace