Those who fail to set up healthy boundaries might find themselves in situations that drain the life out of them. Let's avoid this.
Understandably, the boundaries between work and home life nowadays rarely get recognized anymore. People work from home now and when your office is only a few steps away from your bedroom, that boundary almost becomes invisible.
While the importance of separating work and home life isn’t something that people talk about regularly, it’s something that should be discussed especially now.
The question is, how do you create healthy boundaries that work best for both aspects of your life? The answer to that question will be discussed in this blog along with the importance of why you should be firm on setting up those boundaries.
Why It’s Essential to Separate Work From Home Life
The internet has made people much easier to reach and with mobile phones and gadgets becoming more and more suitable for portable workspaces, it’s just not looking that great for those who have bosses sending emails at 1 in the morning.
A lot of people do not recognize that having work-life balance is essential to living peacefully and healthily at home. Just because you’re working the long hours, doesn’t mean those who don’t aren’t as diligent and hardworking as you.
These types of misconceptions often lead to plenty of employees forgetting to set up boundaries between work and home. Moreover, with the pandemic still at its peak, the work-from-home setup won’t be going away soon—making this topic all the more important.
When you fail to separate work from home, you fail to give your mind and body time to rest. Your mind is perpetually chained to the list of things you still have to finish even after you’ve clocked out. We all know how important and refreshing rest is which is why it should be a priority.
Those who don’t have healthy boundaries are also much prone to mental health problems. You’re giving space for yourself to forget about the taxing things and just breathe.
Getting too stressed because of work even at night can lead to depression and anxiety, according to studies and this should be enough to alarm you.
Last but not the least, when you just won’t let yourself recognize those boundaries, you’re also setting yourself up to be less productive. Obviously, you’ll get lesser chances and time for sleep and rest that your body won’t be able to recover.
You’ll find that you’re not as sharp as you think which can hamper a lot of tasks, especially when time is of the essence.
So, don’t be afraid to draw the line when you need to. There’s nothing wrong when you prioritize rest after working hours—you’ll only discover what you’ve been missing out on.
How to Separate Work From Home Life
Now that we’ve discussed the importance of having work-life balance, it’s time we discuss how to achieve it. For many of you, this may seem like a foreign concept—seeing that you’re reading this blog now.
But, rest assured, it’s only going to get easier once you get the hook of it. Just make sure that you’re committed to setting up and recognizing the boundaries for these to work. Here’s what you need to do:
Stick to Your Working Hours
If you’re working 8 hours a day, only work within those hours—no more, no less. Turn off work notifications right after your shift or only give priority to emergency calls. This also means not working on your designated rest days.
Be More Efficient
So that you can clock off on time and enjoy your rest days, manage your work and become more efficient in what you do. This means that you conquer tasks according to their difficulty and scheduling everything within your work hours.
Have a Designated Work Space
When working from home, make sure that you’re not working where you sleep or where you take your time to rest. Have a designated work space and make sure that you keep it that way. That also means not having your laptop near you when you're on your lunch break at home.
Don’t Juggle Work and Home Responsibilities
Try to stick to one task as much as possible. That means when you’re working, you’re not doing your home duties, the same goes vice versa. This means that you talk to the people in your house about division of labor and your employer about not sending work after hours.
Adjust Into It
The ones listed above might seem like a dream come true but you need to adjust into this new way of doing things. The transition might take a while but it’s important that it’s clear to everybody involved. Manage everybody’s expectations so no one gets disappointed—including yourself.
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