Juggling work and home life is tricky at the best of times, but lately, with staffing issues and crazy inflation, it seems extra fraught. If you’re feeling caught in the middle of this, today’s post is for you!
First, let’s start with defining work-life balance. Because our needs vary so much, your personal definition will help you see where you are and where you want to be. What are the demands of your job that are creeping into your personal life? When would you like to be really clear that you’re off the clock?
Next, think about some ways to meet your employers needs as well as your own. Are there tasks someone else can handle when you’re off? Is there an operations manual that can be updated so people don’t call you after hours or during your vacation? Are there some rules that can be changed to clarify when it’s okay to contact others?
If you make any changes, you will need to make sure you have the support of your manager, and you will need to communicate those changes with your colleagues. But even without official changes, unless your work specifically needs you to be available, you can begin reclaiming some of your own time. Start by removing your work email from your phone. Yes, I know it’s convenient—and that’s the problem. It’s easy to check while you’re making dinner, for instance, and before you know it, you’re answering a work email at 10 p.m.
After you’ve adjusted to not checking work emails on your phone, you can also start ignoring calls and texts from coworkers. Obviously you can still answer the ones from work friends, but if those are about work, give a little pushback: “Can we not talk about work on Saturday?” The others you can just ignore until Monday. Unless you’re a firefighter or a surgeon, your lack of response is pretty unlikely to cause anyone lasting harm.
And finally, when you go on vacation, change your voicemail and your email auto-responder so they say you’re out and not checking messages. And then… DON’T CHECK YOUR MESSAGES! Initially that will feel strange, but you’ll get used to it and it will be grand.
