Are you Walking on the Thin Line between Work and Home?
Okay so you have spent time setting up a realistic work schedule, you are understanding the basics of Time Management, but you are realizing that it can still be difficult to not bring home your work with you. You may have a demanding job or you may hate your job and you bring this home with you. Just how can you balance your personal life and your job without letting the other suffer?
Or an even better question… How do you balance your life and your job when they are both under the same roof?
While it is easy to say the minute you swipe out or get into your car to drive home, stop thinking about work. This is not always so easy to accomplish when you work from home.
To remove yourself from work is not as easy as just moving the chair around and heading downstairs to the kitchen.
For many people who work outside of the home, if your job is demanding you may be tempted to bring work home with you via emails (communications, documents), cell phones (meetings), or an old fashioned briefcase filled with work materials.
Working from home, as you attempt to disconnect is not so simple.
“Hmm, dinner is cooking but I really should send out my newsletter now so everyone can take advantage of my new sale”
“I really should finish that email and write up that proposal for work. It makes sense to at least have the outline done, so I don’t have to rush in the morning”
So while the kids are in bed, the computer is just calling you to go back to work….
I don’t like my Job
On the other hand if you dislike your job you feel like going home and ranting about it.
“Stupid email campaign didnt work and that cost too much money for advertising. No one bought anything, and have of the list didnt even bother to open it”
“Why am I wasting my time doing this work. They dont care anyway. Im just another login number anyway….Oh wait what about dinner.”
Neither one is a good option.
When you bring work home it can interfere with the time you have to spend with your family. You may only intend to spend 30 minutes proof reading but instead this turns into a couple of hours. By the time you are done your kids are in bed and you wonder why they don’t interact with you as much as they used to.
If you do nothing but scream and yell when you are in “home mode”, this also has a negative effect on those around you. As much as they want you home they can start to dread that time.
So How Can I Balance it All?
To balance this out you need to take a good look at both situations.
- If your work load is too much is there a way to reduce it?
- Can you delegate some of your tasks to a junior member?
- Does your boss know that you are working beyond your normal hours?
Don’t try and be a super hero and get everything done alone. It just isn’t possible and your personal life as well as your health could suffer. Learn to prioritize what has to be done before you leave work each evening. This way in the morning you can look after the most important items first.
If you hate your job and do nothing but shout at your spouse or family then maybe it is time to start looking for a new one. Research has shown that going to a job you detest each day can put you into a severe depression.
Too much of anything is not good for you…Ice cream is good too but too much of it….well you get the idea.
You need to put a mental time limit on how much you plan to do for the job or for your business. It will consume you and then there is nothing left.
Here are some helpful tips to balance it all….
Defining and Setting Your Priorities
Regardless of how much you would like to get accomplished each day, you only have 24 hours. For this reason you must learn to set your priorities. Take a look at all the things you want to get done including:
- Being successful at work or your business
- Spending more time with your children
Now you must determine which items are most important to you. If you want to spend more time with your children, then schedule certain time periods for this.
While you may want to be successful at work, at what cost? – define and set your priorities.
Here are some great tips on setting your priorities.
Planning in Advance
There is no doubt that from Monday to Friday you are extremely busy. If preparing meals is difficult and you tend to resort to fast food, start planning and preparing meals on the weekend. You could cook up a large roast or chicken on Sunday. Use the leftovers for Monday’s meal. Make some quick and easy meals, and freeze some for during the week. With a little advance planning and preparing you can feed healthy meals to your family and reduce your eating out budget.
Here are some meals that you can prep in 15 minutes or less
Share Responsibilities
This applies to both your job and your home life. If you are feeling overwhelmed at work is it possible to delegate certain projects to a co-worker? Talk to your boss about this, they may not even realize how overwhelmed you are feeling.
It’s okay to be a team player. Learn how to Delegate your work.
At home you don’t have to be the super parent, there is nothing wrong with asking for help. Delegate chores to your children, even young children can help tidying up and vacuum.
Here is a set of starter lists for kids’ chores.
If you and your spouse need a break ask another family member if they could watch your kids for the evening or weekend. When was the last time they stayed over at their grandparents? This can be a great way to free up some time to spent together and both your kids and the grandparents will love spending time together.
Use these top tips to add a sense of stability and balance back into your life. There is no need to feel overwhelmed at home or at work. Asking for help can bring you rewards you never dreamed of.
Leave a Reply