I do not know about you but I find it a lot easier to relax in my home office than I do in my “office” office. I am a little less critical of my clothing, my eating habits, and my posture.

When I first started working out of my home office in Toronto, I found myself unconsciously making some bad health and ergonomic decisions. Whereas I always sat with perfect posture at the office, once I started working from home, I started to, well, slump a bit. Every once in a while I would be chatting away on my conference phone when I would suddenly realize I was displaying very poor posture again. Of course I would then consciously correct myself. Inevitably, though, I would slump back down.. Finally, when my back started to ache before noon, I knew I had to make a change. 

What was my solution? I put a mirror on the wall in front of my desk. It is very difficult not to notice you are slouching when there is a mirror image of yourself right in front of your face.

Eventually, my habit of good posture came back to me and I removed the mirror. If you are suffering from bad posture and back pain, try placing a mirror in front of you to remind you of your bad – yet easily corrected – habit of slouching.