Work-Life Balance and Setting Boundaries

Why You Need to Set Boundaries

Work life balance is how you choose to spend your time, and how you split your time between your career and your personal life. It can greatly impactful your physical and emotional health. By having a good work life balance you can feel more aligned with your personal values, creating a deeper sense of purpose and empowerment.

It Helps to Reduce Stress 

With a healthy work life balance, you can reduce stress in your professional and personal life. When you don’t bring your personal problems into work, and you leave your work problems in the office, you are able to focus on each area of your life much more effectively. Stress often gets worse when you feel like everything is piling up and you can’t really put your focus on any one thing. It is overwhelming and very quickly leads to burnout.  

You Can Improve Productivity 

You will notice that when you work on your time management and balance your energy more effectively, you also begin to increase your productivity. In the beginning, it can feel that by spending more time and attention on your personal life, your work will suffer, but more often the opposite is true. You are more relaxed, less stressed, and have a better handle on what your schedule is. When this happens, you know that when it’s time to work, you work, and you can focus on it without the personal distractions.  

Your Relationships become Healthier

In your personal life, your relationships with friends and family members also greatly improve with a good work life balance. You can spend more quality time with them, plus with more self-care, you begin to feel more confident and that can also improve relationships you have with other people.  

Boundaries for Better Work Life Balance

Having a good work life balance doesn’t come without setting boundaries. If you are someone who has already struggled with this, then improving your work life balance will become a blessing, because you have no choice but to also improve your boundaries.  

Setting boundaries does not come naturally to everyone. You might be someone who has a hard time saying no or who gets caught up in your daily responsibilities, that you don’t allow yourself time for anything fun and enjoyable. You need healthy boundaries with people in every area of your life, including your own bad habits. The boundaries you choose to set are entirely up to you, but it’s important that you follow through and remind people of what they are.

Learning to say no – The simple act of communicating your boundaries with people in your life makes it easier to say no. You understand the importance of setting these limits with people, and you get practice saying no.  

Boundaries let you balance your time more effectively – Having a good work life balance means managing your time and organizing what needs to be done. This is a lot easier to do when you can set boundaries for each area of your life. 

You can avoid unnecessary distractions – Distractions are a lot more common when you lack proper boundaries in your personal or professional life.  

Tips on Setting Boundaries

Personal Boundaries 

The first boundaries you can set are your personal boundaries. These include what you do with your personal time, saying no to people when necessary, and of course keeping work issues out of your personal life.  

To set personal boundaries, start by considering what your personal commitments and obligations are. This includes socializing with others, quality time with your family, taking care of your household, self-care, and time alone, and anything else that is important to you. Once you know what these commitments are, you can then determine what often gets in the way from spending time on them. That is where you need to set your boundaries. 

Work Boundaries 

Next you have your work boundaries, which allows you to keep everything professional, without letting anyone put too much on you when it isn’t necessary. Here is an idea of what your work boundaries might look like: 

·       Closing the door of your office when you need to make a call or are concentrating on something important.

·       Keeping all personal notifications on your phone turned off until your work day is complete.

·       Only replying to emails or calls within a certain time frame prior to ending for the day.

·       Having times of the day when you don’t answer the phone.

·       Time limits on working from home just as you would leaving the office.

It should not feel like you must choose one over the other. You can have a balanced, healthy, happy life if you know how to manage your time wisely and know what your priorities are. If you feel that to be successful you must sacrifice your personal and home life, then perhaps you are stuck in an overachieving or perfectionistic loop. If you’re finding yourself overly stressed, overwhelmed, too anxious to set boundaries and priorities please feel free to email or call me for a free, no obligation, consultation. Remember, you deserve to have the life you want!

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heather@setsailtherapy.com

317-648-9295.