4 Boundaries to Set When Working From Home
Those of us who have been working from home through the whole pandemic have been doing so for about 10 months now, with no end in sight. As the blending of our professional and personal lives has become the norm, I have to ask myself: Are we working from home or are we living at work? There are definitely some advantages to this blend, but it’s easy to get carried away with unhealthy habits, which is why setting BOUNDARIES is incredibly important.
Here are four easy boundaries you can implement today:
1. Close the door
I have found that working in a separate room with a closed door helps me feel like I’m “going to” and “leaving” work.
If at all possible, move your workspace to an area that is as distinct as possible from your living area. Even if this isn’t a separate room, the more separated the space, the better.
If you don’t have a designated desk, consider some affordable options for getting one, like something used from Facebook Marketplace, or something cheap from Amazon or Target.
2. Put the phone away
Boundaries go both ways. Yes, we want to limit the amount of work leaking into our personal lives, but we also want to limit the amount of our personal lives leaking into our work. In fact, these boundaries support one another, because the more you are able to focus on your work during your work day, the less likely you are to need to work overtime to get it all done.
For me, this means no phone. I am simply way too distracted when my phone is accessible, so I try to put it in a drawer or a separate room altogether to maximize the efficiency of my working hours.
3. Take short breaks
When you’re in the office, you probably take a number of short breaks throughout the day without even realizing it, so you don’t need to feel guilty if you do the same in your home. In fact, taking short breaks (about 5 minutes every 30-60 minutes) will make you more productive, because it will prevent fatigue.
My personal favorite way to do this is to take a walk outside. When working from home, I lose out on the short walks to and from the car or on my commute or while getting lunch. For a while I felt like if I were to “go for a walk” from my house, it would have to be a full-blown workout, like 45 minutes or so. But that’s not always easy to get in, so I’ve learned that SHORT walks are still valuable. (Plus, by the end of the day they add up!)
4. Set an end time
For me, one of the most important boundaries while working from home is setting a strict end time. Now, this doesn’t mean that I can slack off – in order to end on time, I need to stay focused and be productive during the day (and if I don’t do that, I might need to sacrifice some of my TV time at night to catch back up). But as much is as possible, I want to shut down my computer at a given end time so that I can unplug from work and then focus entirely on my family.
What boundaries have you set between work and play? Let me know in the comments below!
