Do You Need a “Fake” Commute?

If you’re like many people right now, you are working from home all or some of the time.

If you previously had a commute, the good news is you are no longer spending that time on the road.

The bad news is a lot of people are discovering that that commute actually was beneficial. Not only did it provide some time to prepare for work along the way, and just mentally get themselves ready, but physically leaving home and going to another place to do their jobs was really helpful.

It’s possible if you’re in that same situation that a “fake commute” might be the solution… and there are three things you can do to implement that.

1. Create a space at home where you only do work. Even if you don’t have a separate room, creating a workspace where you only do work, don’t do work in other parts of the home, and also don’t do other things in that workspace, can help create this separation between work and your personal life.

2. Consider physically leaving home and then coming back again to start work. For example, a friend of mine goes out to grab a cup of coffee in the morning and then comes home and starts working. That brief period where she’s gotten away to grab some coffee, physically helps getting the body moving and also gives her time mentally to prepare for the day ahead.

3. Mental preparation. In the morning, just a few minutes of meditation or writing down your goals for the day can be really helpful. At the end of the day you can achieve that same result by looking back at what was successful that day, looking at what worked well for you.

I believe if you start implementing some of these ideas for a fake commute, you’ll find that they have real benefits.