It's relatively easy to get the technology running to work from home. The hard part is the doing. Don't beat yourself up! Try this tiny tip on...

Gratitude

Honestly, it can be hard to feel good about work, especially when it's upended. But I'll always remember attending a talk given by prolific writer Isaac Asimov, who said, "I think if you're going to do something for eight hours a day, you should feel good and be proud of it."

There's solid research showing that gratitude is A) a skill, B) challenging, and C) highly beneficial to our health and well-being.

When Is Your Work Day Over?

Here's a small routine to try out.

  1. When your work day ends--whenever that is--it's not over until you've physically written down one thing you're grateful for.
  2. Relive that thing. Savor it. Take a full minute.

I'm not saying you won't have days that are crap and you're glad they're over. I'm saying you get to choose how you transition to the next part of your day. Spare yourself, your spouse, your kids the barrel of awful. Tell them the truth; maybe it was rough, but there was something to be grateful for.

Don't let your past control you. Take a minute for one good thing.

Finally

Stop the comparisons to others. You're not more or less grateful than someone else. The worst kinds of reference points are other people. How grateful are you today?

References

(taken from the terrific, free Yale course The Science of Well-Being)

Gratitude

Emmons et al. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of personality and social psychology, 84(2), 377.

This paper tells us that gratitude - counting the good things in our lives - makes us happy

Seligman et al. (2005). Positive Psychology Progress: Empirical Validation of Interventions. American Psychologist, 60(5):410-21

This paper explores several happiness interventions and tells us gratitude interventions can increase happiness

Barton et al. (2015). Linking financial distress to marital quality: The intermediary roles of demand/withdraw and spousal gratitude expressions. Personal Relationships, 22, 536–549.

This paper tells us being grateful can help us through difficult times (as seen in the case of marriage)

Grant & Gino (2010). A little thanks goes a long way: Explaining why gratitude expressions motivate prosocial behavior. Journal of personality and social psychology, 98(6), 946.

This paper tells us receiving gratitude makes us feel valued and motivates us to be more generous