It’s Time To Reassess Your Boundaries - Here’s How
You're seven months into Covid. A situation you probably never thought much about before it actually happened. And DEFINITELY a situation you never thought would still be going on and affecting your daily life.
Honestly, it's a little unfathomable. I remember wondering how I was going to make it through a few months of social distancing. And now we're still here, going into winter, no end in sight.
And because we don't have an end date, it's time to reassess.
What's working, what's not, and what are you going to do differently?
You can do this in any area of your life, from physical activity to your social life to spirituality, but today let's focus on one area I keep hearing come up from people over and over and over - boundaries between work and home.
I know what you're thinking - "Boundaries?!? Ha! What boundaries?!?"
Yes. Exactly.
You were thrown into working from home over the course of a weekend. Your kids went on spring break in March and some still haven't returned to school. Your home became the place you do EVERYTHING.
Because you were thrown into the deep end, you never set any of it up on purpose. There was no opportunity to do that. No warm up. No talking about what this was all going to look like.
The gun had already gone off before you even made it to the start line. You just had to run.
I'll say it again - now is the time to reassess. To set boundaries between your work and the rest of your life ON PURPOSE.
Here are two things you can do right now to create boundaries:
Create physical separation between your work space and living space.
If you don't have a separate office, pack up your work things when you're done for the day. A woman recently told me that she puts her laptop and papers into a bag and then puts the bag in the closet. Such a great idea! You can also cover up your work space with a table cloth or hang a curtain around whatever space you've carved out for your desk. Anything to create a physical, visible barrier to work.
2. Talk with your team about boundaries
A few months ago I created a new workshop on recovering from burnout - and resetting boundaries as a team is one of the most important things we've been talking about. You can set all the boundaries you want for yourself, but if there's still a group text going around at 9:00pm, that boundary is going to disappear.
Have a conversation with your team. Agree upon when it's okay to text and call. Discuss what constitutes an emergency that needs to be addressed outside of normal work hours and what can wait until the next day. Have an open conversation about whether you really want to be on that group text chain that is mildly entertaining, but also distracts you and takes your focus back to work when you aren't actually working.
This doesn't need to be confrontational. Bring it up in the same way I introduced this email - you're seven months in and it's a good time to reassess. If you're managing a team, give your team the heads-up that you want to talk about this. If you're a team member, talk to your boss about discussing this at your next team meeting.
Your team agreements may just keep you sane over the next several months.
And, remember, always - you deserve boundaries. You deserve to slow down. You deserve to still enjoy life. You deserve to take a breath.
Do you want more tips on setting boundaries at work?
I can help! Click on the button below to get The Ultimate Guide To Saying No At Work!