Working From Home Made Simple: Top Tips To Help You Shine

Working home can literally be the dream to many, but it can be one of the hardest things you do. Not only do you have to be a self-starter, but you have to do well in your own company. For some, not having that teamwork vibe surrounding you can be daunting and pretty lonely. But, working from home can offer you the perfect balance for everything you have going on in your life. So if it is a journey you are about to embark on, or you find yourself looking to be more productive, then here are some tips to make working from home much more simple.

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Getting dressed for the day

Some people would imagine that you sit at your computer all day, or even with a laptop in bed, and don’t get out of your pajamas. While of course, it is a huge benefit to wear what you want and work where you like in your home environment, you might find that you are much more productive if you dress for the day. Much like you would have done if you were heading to an office environment. Of course, wearing a suit or work attire isn’t essential, but certainly being in something other than pajamas could be a huge step in the right direction.

Having a schedule that you stick to

It is hard to concentrate and stay motivated in your home surrounding, especially if you happen to procrastinate and avoid the task in hand. You may be distracted by your home with pots to wash or laundry to put away. So try and schedule your day accordingly with work time, and home time.

The right equipment to look professional to others

It’s important that you look professional in your chosen field. You may have to meet potential clients or send literature in the post. This is when it’s important to ensure your branding is spot on, and a great way to do that is to have business cards and even something like embossed stationery to give you the edge against competitors.

The right equipment at home to ensure you do good work

While it is important you look the part for yourself and potential people to work with, it’s also vital you have the right equipment in your home to do the job you intend to do from home. This might mean a speedy internet access, the right computer or laptop for your online needs and even the right stationery to do the job.

Shutting yourself off from distractions

It can be hard to not be distracted, so it’s important that you shut yourself away from the distractions as best you can. Choose a room in your home that would be the perfect working environment for you, free of as many distractions as possible.

A designated workspace

Finally, if your home allows, having a designated workspace would be a great addition to your working home life. It would feel like all your work has a place, and then when you are finished your home will still feel like your place of relaxation. It can often feel like you are mixing the two worlds when you work from home, so segregating it as much as possible will help you remain productive.

I hope these tips help you have a better working home life.

Moving Homes? Here’s How to Keep Your Kids From Getting Stressed

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Moving homes is one of the most exciting moments in life for adults and children alike. However, it is also one of the most stressful, particularly for children.

You see, kids, when faced with a house move, are much more likely to think about all of the negative aspects of moving such as losing their friends, family and the environment they are used to. They also tend to feel powerless because they have little to no say on the decision to move. This can lead to a whole lot of stress being out on their young shoulders.

Luckily, there are plenty of things that you can do to minimize stress and make moving an exciting adventure for your kids.

Talk to Them

Keeping in constant communication with your kids is important in every aspect of life, but it is especially important when contemplating a move. If you want to minimize the impact a move has on your child, you will need to start discussing it with them well before the Moving Companies pull up to your drive.

By giving your kids lots of age relevant info about the move, you can get them used to the idea, so that when the big day comes they are well-prepared.

Be Prepared

Once a child knows that they will soon be moving home, it is likely that they will take some time to process it, and they will no doubt come out with important questions at the most unexpected of times. It is important that, as much as possible, you have the right answers to their questions ready for them. This will reassure them that everything is under control, allowing them to relax a little.

Involve Them in the Process

Obviously, you can’t let your kids call the shots when it comes to moving home. If you did, you’d find yourself bunking down in the Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland, but there are lots of little choices that you can get the kids involved with.

For example, taking them to visit potential new homes, letting them choose their bedroom décor and taking them on fun trips to local landmarks near the new place are all simple things you can do to make your children feel a part of the process whilst having a great time.

Make Time for Them

Carving out some one-on-one time with the kids, where you can have no-strings fun together, is a great way to tease out any fears or concerns they may have about the move. This will help you to work out what the biggest issues with the move are likely to be and thus plan strategies to get your kids through.

Even if you do all of the above, you may find that your children still experience a period of stress when you move into your new home. It is important not to panic if this is the case. Instead, you should focus your energies on making the transition fun. Take the kids out, play home-based games like hide and seek, let them meet the neighbor kids and you’ll soon see an improvement.

Is This Really The Key To A Happy And Healthy Life?

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We all have goals, but most of them will involve being happy. Whether you’ve got big plans for your career or high hopes for your hobbies, your end goal is always to do something that makes you happy. A lot of the time, our dreams can involve a healthy and active lifestyle too, even if you’ve not got that written down. It’s often a given. But when we look at healthy lifestyle goals, we don’t always write them down, or actively plan to improve how we live - and that’s the key to making it work. Organization will help you to lead the happy and healthy life that you’re looking for.

Create An Agenda

One of the easiest ways to organize your life is to create an agenda. When your life is organized, your happiness will follow suit. And, you’ll find it so much easier to focus on your health. As your draw up your agenda, you can start to block out time using colors to coordinate it. Block out your working hours or hours for chores in their own colors, and then allocate colors for other things like cooking or meal times, events, meetings or activities. You should then be left with a weekly chart full of color and a few blank spaces. Those spaces can be reserved for rest or working out and now, you can easily see what you’ll be doing and when for each day of the week.

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Organize Your Medicine Cabinet

Organizing your medicine cabinet may feel like a chore, but it will ensure that your health is a little bit more together - especially if you take medication daily. Organize your medical supplies, vitamins and prescriptions by shelf so that you know where everything is and can access it when it’s needed. You’ll also know when your out of things like bandages or painkillers so you can keep them topped up.

Rearrange Your Pantry

Now that you’re on a roll, it’s time to tackle your pantry. When we’re in the kitchen, it can be easy to move stuff around as you cook, and put groceries away quickly. Then, when you try to find something, it’s not always where you left it. So, from time to time, it can help to organize your kitchen space. When you tidy up your pantry and clear it out, you’ll be able to access the food and seasonings you need, and you’ll inspire yourself to cook new things as you’re finally able to see the ingredients you already have.

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Put Up A Chart

When you realize that your agenda is working, you might want to do something similar for your children. But, the main difference will be in its purpose. Your agenda is to allow you to stay organized and free up time. Their chart will encourage and motivate them to lead healthy lives too. You can do it sort of like a behavior chart, but the stars or smiles will be awarded when they do healthy things. That could include eating fruit, finishing all of their food, drinking water, being active, doing a good deed, being kind, or even doing well in school. Because health and happiness really are holistic.

Should You Say "Goodbye" To Your Alarm Clock? New Thinking On Sleep

Don’t smoke, don’t be obese and get exercise: these are the healthy living mantras we live by. But what about sleep? All too often, sleep is a lost cousin of healthy living; something that for all too many of us falls by the wayside, thanks to our stressful, hyperactive lifestyles.

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Not getting enough sleep, however, ultimately leaves us feeling exhausted, no matter how much coffee we drink during the day. Here’s some of the latest thinking on sleep.

What’s The Magic Number?

You’ve heard it time and time again that you need about 8 hours of sleep to be at your best. But is that always true? Actually, the amount of sleep that you need varies dramatically based on your age. Newborns need a whopping 14 to 17 hours of sleep every day. Teenagers need between 8 and 10 hours to perform optimally.

The crucial number when it comes to sleep is actually 7. Adults who get less than 7 hours of sleep a night live longer and are healthier than those who get less, according to http://www.nytimes.com/. The National Sleep Foundation has more information on how many hours sleep you should be getting at your particular age.

Keep A Sleep Diary

Most people think that they know how long they spend asleep, just as most people believe that they know how many calories they are eating. The problem with guesswork like this, however, is that more often than not, it’s wrong. Most people massively underestimate how much they eat and overestimate how much they sleep.

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A sleep diary helps you to see just how much you sleep compared to how much you think you sleep. Thanks to modern technology, you no longer have to do this by hand. There are sleep trackers that will accurately track your sleep at night, giving you an objective measure of how much shut-eye you’re actually getting.

A sleep diary is also an excellent opportunity to reflect on how comfortable you felt and whether your mattress is up to scratch. As bestmattress-brand.org points out, the type of mattress you choose can affect the quality of your sleep, and the quality of your sleep can have significant knock-on effects for your health in the long term.

Say Goodbye To Your Alarm Clock

What did humans do before they had alarm clocks? Well, most people got out of bed when it got light. In fact, this is what our bodies have been designed to do through eons of evolution. Modern life, however, runs counter to this. Our alarms clocks don’t care about our circadian rhythm; instead, they are there to help us lead more regimented lives and not be late for work.

But there’s a problem with alarm clocks: they don’t respect our natural sleep patterns. As we sleep, our bodies go through cycles, from deeper sleep to lighter sleep and then back to deeper sleep. If your alarm wakes you up while you’re in a deep sleep part of the cycle, you’ll wake up feeling groggy, no matter how much sleep you’ve actually had. If you’ve got the flexibility in your work, say goodbye to your alarm clock for a week or two and see if it has any effect.

Three New Habits You Need To Make Now That Can Transform Your Life

Creating a new habit is easier said than done. Most of our habits are developed slowly over a long period of time, which is why we often don't realise we are doing them. Switching the kettle on when we get in from work can be a habit if done for long enough, or maybe you have a less savoury habit, such as biting your nails. Whatever it is you do, this aspect of your daily life has probably become part of your everyday routine now. Experts claim that it takes around 21 days of repeated behaviour to signal to the brain that a new habit is formed. Many of us try to make major changes to our lives without a structured routine but in many cases this only leads to failure as we slip out of the habit as soon as something comes up and distracts us from said routine. If your personal care is something you have been meaning to focus on more, here are some ways you can create positive new habits that easily fit around your family life.

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Skincare

Our skin is something that most of us swear we are going to start looking after at some point. But, although we may start a skincare routine with the best intentions, it's one of those things that we usually end up giving up not long after we've started it. This is often because we are simply too ambitious with what we try to achieve. After all, how many of us honestly have the time to use a face mask, an exfoliator, a cleanser, a toner and a serum every single morning? When the kids are running amok, it simply isn't going to happen. Instead, keep it simple and set a reminder every morning and evening to commit to your routine. As an extra incentive treat yourself to some cut price goodies with something like a Superdrug discount code for 2017. A simple cleansing face wash and an exfoliator (the latter to use just a couple of times a week) should be perfect. You can even save time by using a tinted moisturiser as your foundation too.  

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Exercise

You probably only need to look at the word exercise to internally groan and want to roll your eyes. Practically all of us can say that we should probably exercise more, but how many of us actually get round to doing it? Not many. By creating a habit of exercise, you are more likely to commit to the cause and see real results too. The best way to do this is to focus on the mornings. Early morning exercise may not sound like your cup of tea, but, you are far less likely to be interrupted before the rest of the world has started stirring. Arrange a workout session with a friend for a number of weeks, as this will hold you accountable. Or, put your gym wear in your kitchen near the kettle so it's one of the first things you see when you get up.  Once you get used to going, you will find it easier to carry on in the long-term.

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Cooking

When it comes to feeding the family, it can sometimes feel like you are feeding the 5000. The most important thing to do when it comes to creating the habit of cooking is to first break any unhealthy habits you have developed. Order takeout a little too often? Throw out all your leaflets and menus and delete those apps from your phone. Once temptation is removed from your path, it will be a lot easier to create a positive habit in the place of your negative one. A bit like with skincare, don't be too ambitious. The meals you cook don't need to be complex or fancy, just tasty and wholesome. Make a point of buying all your ingredients for the week on a Sunday so that you never have the excuse of not having anything in. By taking some of these simple steps you can develop new positive habits that benefit you in all areas of your life.