Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Work Life Balance: Establishing Work Life Boundaries
Work Life Balance: Establishing Work Life Boundaries
Now more than ever, it is hard to separate work from our home
lives. The pressure to meet deadlines, goals and targets means many people have
to bring our work home, and with the increase of technological advances, work
also invades our home lives with work emails, text messages and the company
website all accessible in our pockets.
The inability to leave work at work has people focused on work
most of the day which creates emotional exhaustion, burnout and increased
pressure and stress which then effects our physical health through heart
attacks, obesity and lack of energy, to name a few.
But it is not only yourself who suffers; your family also feels
the effects. Many partners and children often feel neglected and unloved
through the lack of attention they receive due to too much time focused on
work. All too often many people have lost their families due to this feeling of
neglect.
So, I hear you ask, how can we balance life AND work without
neglecting the family and meeting our work commitments? I believe what will
make this challenge easier is to out in place clear boundaries that separate
life and work and stick to them. I know it's easier said than done, but here
are 5 tips on how to set these boundaries.
Prioritise
This is probably the most important step in helping to set the
boundaries between work and home. By prioritising these parts of your life will
make it easier to recognise where you need to put your focus. When work has
demands on you such as meeting deadlines, working through important business
times such as tax time or Christmas for people working in retail, you need to
put work as a top priority. Explaining to your family that it is a busy time at
work and that you need to spend more time working for a short period. You can
then ask them to support you by allowing you to do this which will help your
family to understand and prevent feelings of neglect. Likewise, when your
family life needs a priority because of a death, illness or even just that big
family holiday, communicating this to your employer or supervisor will help
them to understand your needs and allow them to support you appropriately.
Transition
The transition from home to work and back again is the perfect
opportunity to shift your focus so you can concentrate on where you need to be.
This is to be done while travelling from one place to the other whether you're
driving or on the bus/train. While going to work you can complete this
transition by listening to the news, reading work documents (I don't recommend
this while you're driving) planning or revising your to do list, anything that
will help you to switch your mind from home to work. When you're leaving work
to come home, the reverse applies. To switch your mind from work to home listen
to enjoyable music, think about what you're going to do when you get home or
even read a novel or your favourite book (again, not while driving, you could
listen to an audio recording of this book). The benefit of going through this
transitional period is that by the time you reach your destination, your
mindset has already made that vital shift and you can put your focus where it
needs to be.
"Turn off" on your days off
We have days off for a reason. Not only do they allow us to
spend precious time with our family, they also allow us to recharge and rest.
This is important as this resting and recharging is what prevents exhaustion
and burnout. It is vital to our physical and emotional wellbeing. Too many
people stay focused on work which prevents us from resting and emotionally
connecting with our family. We need to "turn off" our work mind on
our days off and be present to our home life. This involves changing your
attitude. You need the attitude that work "Is not my problem" and
that today "I don't care about work". This change of attitude is
mentally changing priorities. To develop this change of attitude could take
some time.
Turn off technology
With technology helping to blur the lines between work and home,
it is vital that we don't let it invade our work or home life. The solution is
as simple as turning it off. At home, turn off your work phone (better yet,
leave it at work, why do you need it at home?), don't check work emails on your
home computer don't use remote access technology which will put you virtually
back in the office. Likewise, at work disable Facebook and Twitter, don't check
your personal emails and turn your personal mobile off.
Learn to say no
This step is so simple yet is so hard for some people to do. We
need to learn to say no when work places demands on us to blur the lines
between work and life. Can you do overtime? No. Can you take this report home
to complete? No. Likewise with home life, can you bring the kids to work? No.
Saying no to unreasonable requests is not being uncooperative or not being a
team player, it is simply being assertive, which is a healthy trait that we all
should have.
These are just some methods you can use to set and enforce these
boundaries. Depending on you and your situation you may need more or different
methods. If you find yourself burning out and unable to set boundaries that
will help you recover, you may find it beneficial to seek counselling for
additional help and support.
Rodney Owen is a Counsellor and the Director of Bloke Support,
an organisation dedicated to helping men and their families overcome emotional
difficulties in Sydney, Australia. To download his free eBook "Avoid
Professional burnout" now at http://www.blokesupport.com.au/burnout
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