Many of us struggle with keeping work at work and home at home. How many times have you caught yourself checking email during a child’s recital or sporting event? Or, likewise, scheduling a doctor’s appointment for your youngest during a meeting?
Guilty.
You are creating extra stress by trying to be two places (and two different people) at once.
Begin by developing boundaries. You should use your commute time to get into whichever “role” you’ll be taking on at your destination. Whether this means using tangible objects (like a work badge or set of keys) or a spoken mantra, you need to begin visualizing and symbolizing work or home and think about one or the other only.
Once you do arrive, don’t put your badge (or whatever item you choose to represent “work mode”) on until you’re actually at work. As soon as you leave, take it back off. If you have to make a personal call from work, take your badge off while you’re on the phone.
Conversely, if you have to do work from home, put your badge on for that time. It’s a simple way to start clearly defining the boundaries between the two in your own mind. You can start to train your brain not to think about work when you’re at home and vice versa.
Performing this transition each day and during every activity will allow you to be “present” when you’re with friends and family and more focused at work. It takes practice but most things worthwhile do.
For more tips, visit the St. Elizabeth Business Health Center or call (859) 301-2997.
