Joy Journal

Every Friday, you can receive the Joy Journal, which will give you information, inspiration and tips that you can use in your pursuit for joy.

Keep Focused on Your Boundaries

Time, Technology, Mental and Spatial

Setting and keeping boundaries between work and life isn’t a new concept, but it has been exacerbated by working from home. The most boundary that is most often discussed is time, e.g. “I will work from 8:30 am-5:30 pm today.” Candidly, I struggle with this boundary the most. I rarely end my day at the declared time. (That’s why joy is a journey.)

There are a few other boundaries, in addition to time, that may enable you to unplug.

Technology: The frequency or timeframes you check or don’t check your mobile device, e.g. email. When trying to be productive, you can declare you will only check messages once an hour. Or you may stop checking your phone after 8:30 pm.
Mental: Decluttering your mind to help you stop thinking about work. At the end of the day, you could do a brain dump or organize your To-Do list for the next day.
Spatial: Physically separating workspace from living space at home. If you are fortunate enough to have a dedicated workspace at home, you can simply shut the door. If not, it is imperative to put away your technology each night. For example, when we first started working from home, I worked at my dining room table. Each night, I literally removed every bit of technology and paper and stored it in a spare bedroom so I wouldn’t see it.

I have since converted my spare bedroom into office, spare bedroom and cycling room, and the beauty is that I can leave all of the work—technology, paper, thoughts—in that room when I finish my work. So, while I may not be great at the time boundary, once I complete the for the done, I’m done.

How about you? Are you leveraging all four boundaries to keep work in check?

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