On episode 46 of Outside The Studio:

Summary

Occupational Psychologist Ellen Bard joins Tessa to discuss how you can improve your work-from-home life quality and routine. They chat about how to set up your home office, how to make working from home easier on you psychologically, and how to manually use the kanban method to plan and structure your workday.

Ellen Bard is an independent assessment and development professional. She has more than 20 years of experience in managing consulting and has been self-employed for the past 9 years. She is the author of Your Work Wellness Toolkit' and 'This Is For You: A Creative Toolkit for Better Self-Care'.

Timestamps
(00:00) Who is Ellen Bard (Authors of Your Work Wellness Toolkit)?
(01:25) Why did Ellen decide to write her book?
(03:24) The transition to working from home.
(06:45) Her personal journey from a 60-hour workweek to freelancing in Thailand.
(12:37) How entrepreneurs can build self-care systems.
(18:44) How do you know your limits (and how to check in with yourself)?
(28:35) Setting up your home environment to be a motivating workplace.
(34:14) Manually using the kanban method wherever you work.
(36:50) Ellen's fiction writing process and routine.
(46:24) Advice from your childhood self
(51:42) Ellen's fiction and non-fiction book recommendations

5 Key Takeaways

1. Burnout is a syndrome characterized by the World Health Organization. If you feel overwhelmed by working from home you have to invest time in looking at your big picture. Just remember, you have to invest time to make time.
2. Wherever you go, you take your personality with you. So, even if you suddenly leave the life you have now and move to live on an island and become a freelancer - you're taking your personality with you. You always have to invest in your inner wellness.
3. Remind yourself that you are a work in progress. The end of the day is not the end of everything. The more you know yourself, the more you can serve yourself.
4. If you work from home, you may want to set up part of your home environment to be conducive to work. One way to go about this is to have a specific place where you work. Even if you don't have an office, you just have to ritualize work from home. A ritual doesn't have to be complicated, it just has to be meaningful to you. You can do something such as repeating a mantra before work or having an object that you take around with you where you work.
5. It's ok to be who you are. Allow yourself to be who you are while still investing in yourself to be the best person you can be.

Links
Books:
Your Work Wellness Toolkit by Ellen Bard: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/692464/your-work-wellness-toolkit-by-ellen-bard/

This is For You: A creative toolkit for better self-care by Ellen Bard https://www.amazon.com/This-You-creative-toolkit-better/dp/1786782103

How Emotions are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain https://lisafeldmanbarrett.com/books/how-emotions-are-made

Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb Series Book 1) https://www.amazon.com/Gideon-Ninth-Tamsyn-Muir-ebook/dp/B07J6HWLPR

Harrow the Ninth (The Locked Tomb Series Book 2) https://www.amazon.com/Harrow-Ninth-Locked-Tomb-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B07WYSGHC7

Mood Checker:

https://www.moodscope.com/

Connect with Ellen Bard

Website: http://www.ellenbard.com/work-wellness/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellenmbard

Connect With Tessa Tovar:

Website: https://tessatovar.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tessamarietovar/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tessa-tovar-baa27613

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/TBenedicktus