REDEFINING THE AMORPHOUS BOUNDARIES BETWEEN YOUR PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL LIVES

BY LAILA ELISE

The normalization of remote work over the past couple of years has certainly provided us with numerous benefits, including more freedom, flexibility, and the potential for greater work-life balance. However, it has also introduced a bit of a boundary problem – one that we may not consciously recognize – as working from home tends to naturally blur into our personal lives. Sure, it’s great that we can prepare a PowerPoint presentation while cooking breakfast for the kids, catch up on household chores during a lunch break, or chat with our partner about weekend plans between video calls, but all of this multi-tasking can certainly distract from our overall productivity.

Conversely, the added flexibility in working hours can easily spill over into our much-needed personal space and clog our family and mental health time, resulting in a lot of hours spent in the “in-betweens,” a place where our minds are not able to focus or be fully present in any one aspect.

To combat this plight, here are a few expert tips on how to best define boundaries that work with your lifestyle to help boost your productivity, creativity, and overall well-being.

Bryan Robinson, Ph.D., author of #Chill: Turn Off Your Job and Turn On Your Life, said that a great place to start is by setting both clearly defined work times and spaces that can help provide you with balance. While it might seem inconvenient to try to maintain structured hours, it’s easier to have guidelines in place so that your family, partner, or cohabitants are cognizant of and can therefore honor your working hours. Whether your mind is sharpest in the morning (best spent at your work desk), or you need three cups of coffee each day before you can even carry on a conversation (perhaps better spent enjoying the outdoors or on a yoga mat), delegating specific hours of the day to important daily tasks is necessary place to start.

Beyond just setting a time table, Dr. Robinson emphasized the importance of creating a workspace that your family or partner respects as a designated “work only zone.” While working together on the couch with your favorite Netflix show playing in the background might seem appealing at first, doing so is a disservice to both your professional productivity and quality time spent with each other. One of the hardest steps in maintaining these boundaries will be to hold each other accountable – no barging into a loved one’s professional space during working hours. There might be some growing pains at first, especially if you are used to constantly blending doom scrolling, work emails, chores, and conversation all into the same moment. Obviously there will be exceptions, but by starting to respect each other’s clearly delineated boundaries – as well as your own – you will undoubtedly begin to notice more clarity and mindfulness in both your career and personal life.