Working from home, whether by choice or because of the Covid-19 pandemic stay-at-home guidelines, means going into the office doesn’t even require heading out the door. This does not augur well for our physical activity levels and could lead to the various negative effects of a sedentary lifestyle. These include high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, obesity and heart disease.
Therefore, it is important to take proactive steps to either get out and exercise or get fit within the confines of your home. There is a greater need to be disciplined, serious and creative to maintain our fitness levels, as working from home presents a unique set of challenges to our health.
10 tips for staying fit while working from home:
1. Set up a separate office workspace.
Set up a desk and chair in a quiet corner of the house to separate the professional from the personal. Choose a good, comfortable, ergonomically sound chair that will keep you properly aligned throughout the day. Or if work permits, consider using a standing desk to counteract the adverse effects of sitting all day. There are various kinds of standing desks and desk converters available, small ones can support a laptop and larger ones can support an external monitor too.
2. Set your work hours as in the office.
It can be tempting to wake up late and work at odd hours or work on the weekends, but sticking to regular working hours will help to better schedule exercise, recreation and family time. This will help you to relax after work, regulate waking and sleeping cycles, and maintain a healthy work-life balance which is critical to keeping fit.
3. Schedule your workouts.
Use the flexibility of WFH and control to your advantage. Use the time during which you used to commute to go for a morning jog or run. Schedule your regular workouts — morning or evening — as you do meetings, but do pencil them in before you begin working. This will help you to stay on track.
4. Go online for workouts too.
Use YouTube videos, smartphone apps, Face time or Skype group workout sessions to work out within the comfort of your home. You can access yoga, meditation, walking, pilates, kickboxing, dance, Zumba, calisthenics and other fitness videos online. Many of these videos are free, but you can pay and engage a personal trainer too.
5. Keep moving throughout the workday.
Use a timer, a smartwatch or an app to remind you to get up and move for a few minutes every hour or so. There are many micro workouts that you incorporate into your daily routine. You could walk around while taking a phone call (if you don’t have to type anything), do some light stretching exercises or simple yoga postures, go up and down the stairs, do some jumping jacks, etc. Yoga and light stretching will improve posture, flexibility, your range of motion and help to relieve your joints and aches from sitting all day.
6. Make do with whatever workout equipment you have.
Even if you do not have full-fledged gym equipment at home, sit-ups, push-ups, burpees, yoga and many other exercises do not require special equipment and can be done anywhere. For walking and running you only need sneakers and for skipping only a simple jumping rope. For weight training be creative and improvise — use heavy household items like bags of groceries or water bottles as weights. Remember, where there’s a will, there’s a way.
7. Integrate more physical activity into your daily lifestyle.
Walk or bike for daily errands like picking up groceries from the store or to eat lunch at a neighbourhood restaurant. Take up biking, running, hiking or nature walks for leisure and recreation instead of Netflix on the couch. Do simple household chores like cooking, cleaning, tidying up the house, walking and playing fetch with your dog. Take up physical hobbies like gardening which will also help you get some sunshine and fresh air. Couples, partners or roommates can take up a workout or yoga as a shared activity and bonding time. These intentional shifts in routine and lifestyle will help to clock in more steps and physical activity without setting time aside to exercise exclusively.
8. Keep yourself well hydrated.
Plan and schedule your daily water intake. Have water with you at all times to sip throughout the day. Take a water cooler break as you would in the office to fill your water bottle and get in some extra steps too. Try to cut out any sodas or sugar-filled beverages; instead, opt for lemonade, green tea, fresh fruit juices, etc.
9. Take a proper break from the screen to eat.
Take your meals and snacks in the kitchen or dining area and not at your work desk or TV screen to ensure mindful eating. This will reduce the risk of overeating. WFH can give you a chance to focus on healthy eating habits. In this regard, it helps to keep your refrigerator and pantry stocked with healthy and nutrient-dense foods like whole fresh fruits and vegetables.
10. Invest in simple pieces of home workout equipment.
There are many kinds of fitness equipment that are minimal — they take up barely any exclusive space and can be easily stowed away in a drawer or under the bed when not in use. For example a jumping rope, weights, resistance bands, a yoga mat or a pull-up bar. Hanging from a bar for several seconds can strengthen the shoulders, forearms and upper back. A fitness band can help you keep track of your steps and keep you motivated in reaching daily fitness goals.
Staying fit will improve your mood, stimulate creativity, and enhance focus, making it an all-around win for your health and productivity. So, follow the above-mentioned tips to make sure your work-from-home days aren't an excuse to get out of shape.
Meetings are a mainstay of modern workplace communication, and for good reason. Done right, meetings aid collaboration, creativity, innovation, and inclusivity among teams. A study1 by ResearchGate reveals that over 50% of respondents considered their meetings productive and only 15% complained about them being a waste of time.
Yet, many of us hear superiors say, “If you’re invited to a meeting, we expect you to speak up. Don’t wait for someone to ask you.”
So, when you can’t find your voice in a meeting or if you’re getting interrupted too often when you try to speak, here are a few ways to make yourself heard in meetings.
7 Ways to Make Your Voice Heard in Meetings.
1.Do your research beforehand.
Walking into a meeting with no idea about its purpose or agenda is like going to war without guns. It’s imperative that you study the agenda before the meeting and arm yourself with ideas, questions and suggestions. If there are topics on the agenda that you can contribute to, convey the same to the host in advance and request that they set aside a few minutes in the meeting for you to speak. And if public speaking gets the best of you, practice your speech before the meeting with a friend or a trusted colleague, and invite questions and suggestions. Remember, practice makes perfect.
2.Arrive early to a meeting.
Reach the meeting room 10-15 minutes ahead of time and start conversations with those who are already present. It’s astonishing how even experienced people shy away from contributing in meetings because they fear what others will think of them. Being assertive in your communication with attendees gets easier if you’ve already spoken to them and built a rapport before the meeting. And if small talk is not your thing, just pull out the agenda and ask for someone’s opinion.
3.Consider questions as contributions.
Questions spark curiosity, curiosity creates ideas, and ideas lead to innovation. So never hesitate to stand up in a meeting and ask your questions. But don’t ever use questions to draw attention towards you. If your question doesn’t have merit, you’re only wasting your and your entire team’s time—a crime too grave to commit when everyone is already pressed for time. Don’t have questions but want to contribute? Make your voice heard by answering questions or summarizing the meeting based on your understanding.
4.Make sure your ideas get the attention they deserve.
When you’ve finally won attention in the meeting, hold the floor until you’ve made your point. Sometimes, even though you’ve made an important contribution, another attendee might think that they’ve come up with an idea of a lifetime and your idea will get lost under their enthusiasm. To avoid this, right after you make your point, engage others in a conversation by asking them “Do you think we can work with this idea?”, or “How can we make this work for your team as well?” to make sure your idea gets the attention it deserves.
And if someone interrupts, politely tell them that you’d like to hear their opinion but have just two more points to make. After you’ve completed your dialogue, remember to ask the person what they were saying.
5.Respond in agreement or disagreement.
If you agree to a point, ensure you voice your agreement with facts or reasons for the same. And if you disagree, speak up and explain why. Never apologize for disagreeing with someone, instead be assertive in your communication without being disrespectful.
Avoid starting with phrases like “I’m sorry but I think...” or “I don’t want to interrupt, but…” and start with these:
● In my opinion, we have a better solution if we….
● I understand Sheetal’s point, but that could lead to…
● I see it differently because…
6.Ask yourself why you want to contribute.
You either have something important to say that will change the course of the meeting, or you’re worried that you’ll be at the receiving end of the “If you’re invited to a meeting, we expect you to speak up.” comment.
If your contribution is driven by the latter, begin by asking yourself why you care about your role, your organization and the project at hand. Answering these questions will help you develop a sense of connection to your work, so you can find new ways to contribute instead of just making your presence felt.
7.Leave your emotions at the door.
People complain that they get “shut off” or “spoken over” in meetings. The only way to get past this is to leave your emotions at the door before a meeting. If you’re being spoken over, or when your idea isn’t being accepted like you wish it to be, staying in a neutral emotional state will help you cope with the feedback. If you have an important point to make that was interrupted, stand up and assert it; if it wasn’t, let it pass. Remember, the point of the meeting is to find solutions to a problem, and not to hear you out.
Making yourself heard in meetings can be tricky, especially when you’re stuck in a workplace that doesn’t notice your contributions. Give these suggestions a go, practice ways to be more assertive in your communication, and you’ll soon find it easy to be heard in meetings!