Remember how great you felt when you first started working from home?

No more suffering through endless commutes. No more living cheek-to-jowl with obnoxious co-workers. This new way of working had you burning with enthusiasm. Now you're not burned up. You're burned out.

What salve can sooth your remote burnout?

Nicole Lipkin, a contributor at Forbes, has a tip. As a matter of fact, she has 10 in her recent post, "10 Tips to Help with Work-From-Home Burnout."

According to Lipkin, burnout is caused by a lack of separation. We've erased the boundaries "between home and office, between lunchtime and work time, between coworkers and family members. Now it's all one big ball of same."

Think you're successful at keeping your work and your life separate? You may not even notice how "muddled your day (has) become." (Warning: Sending a searing email complaint to company HR about unwanted attention from your goldendoodle is probably not a good sign.)

The first step to unwinding an unhealthy muddle of work and life is to reinstate the transitions that helped keep you "sane and healthy."

"Going to a conference room, stopping by a peer's desk ... taking a lunch break ... These transitions give our eyes and brains a break," Lipkin writes. "With the absence of these transitions, we create a breeding ground for mental exhaustion, which over time makes you mentally sluggish."

Of course, certain transitions can easily transition to your home office. Breaking down sobbing will be just as effective at the kitchen table as it was at the conference table. And spending the afternoon hiding in the broom closet works as wonderfully well at home as it did at the office.

Need a skosh more separation? Read on!

No. 1: Find a Different Way to 'Commute'

"Take the time previously spent commuting to simulate a commute," Lipkin suggests, "like a morning walk, but really it can be any activity." I like this idea. Wake up an hour early, and go sit in your car. To fully simulate those beloved traffic jams, don't go anywhere. Just sit and fume. Do feel free to vocalize. Shout, "Who taught you how to drive, idiot?" to joggers as they run past. Pound the steering wheel. It won't help, but it's good exercise.

If you used public transportation for your former commute, recreate the experience by crawling headfirst into your laundry basket. Those wonderful aromas will magically transport you to your favorite crosstown bus. If you commuted on foot, spend that extra hour walking around your kitchen table. At the end of the day, reverse your direction. Otherwise, you'll never get home.

No. 2: Use a Doodle Pad

Clicking away to do online shopping during the boring parts of a Zoom meeting isn't good for your career or your mental health.

Replace online multitasking with an offline activity — a doodle pad. Doodling while listening "will give your impulses the needed distraction but in a way that isn't diverting your attention and thus, depleting your mental attention and focus."

Best of all, when the meeting is over, email your online doodles to your online psychiatrist, and schedule an online therapy session to find out what the heck is wrong with you.

No. 3: Choose the Phone Over Zoom When Possible

Remember phone calls? They're like online meetings, only no one can see you've gained 15 pounds or now wear an aluminum foil hat. With a phone call, "your brain can focus on hearing rather than hearing/listening/presenting yourself simultaneously."

If the people with whom you meet refuse to go retro with phone calls, simply start attending Zoom meetings with a paper bag over your head. Explain that you want to focus your mind. Since the other attendees already think you have lost your mind, this is sure to be received as good news.

No. 4: Change Positions Often

"Changing positions every 15-30 minutes from standing to sitting to standing will help your body and energy level." Perhaps. With your energy level already running on empty, you may want to change your position in a more significant way. Consider changing from sitting at your kitchen table to standing on the bus to the airport. Then change to sitting in a first-class seat to Acapulco. Then change to standing at a beach bar with a pina colada in each hand.

When your energy level is restored, call the office and sign on to another online meeting, or call the waiter and order another round.

Now, that's the kind of muddle you can deal with.

Bob Goldman was an advertising executive at a Fortune 500 company. He offers a virtual shoulder to cry on at [email protected]. To find out more about Bob Goldman and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: Free-Photos at Pixabay