Burnout is a word that every entrepreneur is at least a little familiar with by now. As workloads increase and connectivity becomes a 24-hour thing, far too many of us fall to what could otherwise be known as the “worker’s disease.” This is especially the case for those breaking away from the 9-5 and who work from home.
The idea of “doing it all for yourself” may seem appealing, but burnout is significantly more likely if you share a home and workspace.
However, I’ve found that having indoor – and outdoor plants – is an easy way to help me get a break from work.
Indoor gardens are a little easier to come by than outdoor gardens. All you need to do is find a garden idea you like, ask yourself ‘how long do building permits last’ after you’ve applied per regulations, and hire someone to make it happen.
Here are three reasons why you should consider adding some plants to your indoor and outdoor spaces.
Less incentive to “just keep working”
For home workers or, frankly, anyone in the process of starting a business, there’s always a temptation to work past the working day. And, why wouldn’t you when you’d otherwise only be in the next room watching television or something equally menial?
Because burnout is guaranteed if you don’t give yourself at least a few hours of recovery time each evening. Luckily, this ongoing work mentality should become a thing of the past once your garden office is in place. After all, you’re far less liable to traipse through the dark undergrowth to get back there once you’ve officially ‘gone home’ for the evening.
Clearer work/life boundaries
Inevitably, work and life boundaries become a thing of the past when you work from home. Where burnout is concerned, this alone could spell trouble. The issue is, of course, that your surroundings will spell relaxation while your brain is telling you to work.
This is a work/life crossover like no other, and it could see your home and work efforts suffering, leading you to work longer hours and invite burnout into your life with open arms. It’s a nightmare, and it’s one that a separate garden office could put an end to once and for all with boundaries that, frankly, couldn’t be clearer.
A fix of fresh air
Working from home also has the downside of not providing much fresh air. While you’d love to tackle this with a daily walk, you just don’t have time, and suddenly burnout starts to set in as you go stir-crazy. Again, garden offices can calm the issue before it gets out of hand by providing you with regular fresh air fixes as you move between home and office.
Two or three minutes of freshness each day is still pretty limited, but even these short bursts of natural goodness could see you in a better mindset, and avoiding the dreaded “b” word for good.
