How is your motivation levels when you’re working from home? You’re lucky if you feel more productive when you don’t have to leave for work or worry about the commute. However, if you feel stressed or overwhelmed with all the things you have to do in the same space where you’re supposed to unwind, you may feel more tired than usual.
Naps can either be your friend or your enemy when you’re working from home. Use them wisely and you’ll recharge your energy levels in the middle of the day, but use them incorrectly and you may get a headache as well as not be able to finish your tasks. Here’s how and when you should take a nap:
Dedicate time for an afternoon snooze
Even if it’s just 30 minutes or an hour, carve out some time in your schedule to nap and replenish your energy levels. If you dedicate time for it in your calendar, it will be a part of your routine, not just something you do whenever you feel like it. Having a routine will help you manage your nap time better, and indulge in the few minutes you have to do it. Choose to nap after you have accomplished a significant number of your tasks, or before the hours when you are at your most productive. The key is to not let it get in the way of work, and when you’re feeling unproductive anyway, a nap wouldn’t really be impacting your workflow.
Respect naps as downtime
When you get around to your dedicated nap time, make sure you’re not checking your phone or getting distracted by other things. Avoid scrolling through social media or chatting with friends. Naps are supposed to help you recharge, but they will be no different than just mindlessly wasting time when you don’t control your distractions. Find a comfortable spot for a nap, ideally not your bed, so that you will not be too comfortable when it’s time to get up.
Start a task while you’re napping
One of the reasons naps tend to work against you is you don’t set a starting and stopping cue for it. Lazy naps will be just you waiting to fall asleep and taking your time to get up. To turn this into a productive nap, start a task and set its time of completion as your stopping cue. For example, you can wear the sheet masks online vloggers recommend, and once it’s dried, you can consider your nap time over. You can also run a meditation session in the background and fall asleep to its sound; when it’s over, that is your cue to wake up. Tired from baking? Let your pastries cool while you nap, so that you will wake up to freshly baked goods that are ready to eat or share with your family.
Taking a nap does not mean you are lazy. If you use it productively, it will help enhance your focus during the hours you spend working.
