How Do I Switch Off And Maintain A Work/Life Balance?

How Do I Switch Off And Maintain A Work/Life Balance?

A question from a subscriber: Sometimes there are urgent work issues I need to take a lot of time to think through, so during these times I find it hard to do anything else other than working, even when my company did not require / hope for people to work long hours. I find myself thinking about work all the time and it is hard for me to focus on other things in life.

For me, the key to switching off is creating a physical or emotional boundary between my home life and my work life. This is critical to maintaining some semblance of distance. 

I work in a makeshift office in my son's room. He has generously given over four feet at the foot of his bed for me to set up my workspace. My husband set up a curtain to hide the teen mess, and I spend most of my day in this enclosed space. Then, when the day ends, I walk out and don't return. After 6 pm, it becomes Jonathan’s bedroom again.  

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(Sometimes his sisters throw the big giant bear on his bed as seen from my "home office view".)

When I have work to do after hours, I take my computer and go to the dinner table, where I set up a makeshift desk. This serves as a reminder that this is not a work space, but a home space where I'm bringing a little bit of work. I also keep separate work and home computer. When I am working, I am on my work computer and focused strictly on work issues. My home computer is for writing, personal planning, and sending emails. 

When there's a critical problem at work, it can be hard to step back and focus on your other things. Time box your work and physically quarantine it to keep it from overflowing into your free time. Work until the end of your day and block out a chunk of time—for example, 6 to 9 pm—for family. If you feel the need, give yourself a bit of time to wrap up your day or plan for tomorrow. Resist the urge to let your work take a disproportionate amount of mindshare and overwhelm your every waking hour. In my experience, most things can wait until the next day, so give yourself permission to unplug and take care of yourself. Work is important, but it will be there tomorrow.

Have any questions you want me to answer on Dear Perspectives? Send me a pm. Also check out my substack for more details articles.  

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Abigayle Peterson

Product Manager, Series-C Startup 🦄 | prev. founder @ Magnify Wellness (100+ chapters)

2y

I love the perspective of “your work will be there tomorrow, so you can pause today”, this impacted me, in a good way. Thank you for your incredible insights!

Fiona Gallagher-Payet

Director, Enterprise Engineering at Meta

2y

I try to be present where I am. But I also accept that’s not always possible and all parties have to be flexible, including me not guilting myself. It means I try to keep work boundaries but I do have to work late in ‘family zone’ often as the only EMEA based person at my level, however ‘work’ also accepts that I sometimes have to take care of personal things during ‘work’ hours. So it all balances out. 

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Andrew Bowker

Product @ IBM - Helping 100 people land PM jobs in tech. Follow me for PM career, product-building tips

2y

Great conversation starter Deborah. I imagine it's WAY harder to manage at an executive level. So kudos for bringing it up. To add from an IC perspective, WLB is always about maintaining an appropriate boundary in accordance to what you're trying to achieve. Find the non-negotiables (sleep/exercise/mental health/date night) and protect those at all costs. Then throttle WLB based on your particular season. Gunning for promo? Make small sacrifices for a time. That's ok. It's also cool to chill for periods of time. When I started "shutting off completely" for 1-2 days per week, I became way more productive during working hours.

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Tony W.

Operations Excellence | Digital Transformation | Commercialization - Business Growth | Innovation | Technopreneur

2y

Thanks for sharing Deborah To balance(the mind and not feeling stressed) it out, I try to take some positivity from the work itself i.e. there is something to learn while doing the work. And, you can take your learning to do better.

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