Summer’s drawing to a close, which means we’re all getting back into the swing of a busier season, with the EVEN busier holiday season and year-end just around the corner, which has me thinking about maintaining balance in my life.
One of the advantages of working for myself these last 12 years is that I’m not answerable to anyone else for how I invest my time and attention. But I think working for oneself can also make it more difficult to set boundaries around time for work versus time for not working.
Sure, I can – as I’m going to this afternoon – easily knock off a bit early to get my hair cut, or reserve one morning a week for tutoring reading in DCPS as I’ve done for the past eight school years and will be again this year. But it’s really tempting, when the office is right down the hall, to work early, and late, and on weekends, and on vacation, and and and….
Which is not healthy.
I’ve set a few guidelines for myself that others who now find themselves working more from home these days may find helpful:
- No working in my pajamas. Even if it’s a t-shirt and yoga pants (which it is most days), GET DRESSED FIRST.
- No phone or computer after dinner. I know it’s a privilege of not being a parent to be able to shut my laptop and leave it and my phone in my office for the rest of the evening. But your smartphone is supposed to serve you, not the other way around. Unless you’re an obstetrician, under indictment, or the President, try to create some space.
- Get out of the house regularly. For folks who are at least part-time in the office, that kind of takes care of itself, unless you find yourself in the office all by yourself spending your whole day on Zoom, Teams, or WebEx anyway. The point isn’t so much a change of scenery (although that’s important, too) as it is seeing and interacting with other human beings. Don’t become a hermit. It’s bad for you.
Those join other guidelines I’ve tried to follow throughout my professional career:
- Give yourself permission to set boundaries. Do the same for your staff members (or, in my case, your clients).
- Beware false urgency – just because you *can* respond in 30 seconds doesn’t mean you need to or should.
- Spend some time away from technology every day, even if it’s only a few minutes, and outside if possible.
- Read for pleasure as well as business.
- Have a sanctuary in your home with no smartphones, tablets, laptops or TVs. Mine is my bedroom (which also promotes good sleep hygiene), but it can be your den, a meditation room, your workshop, workout space or sewing room, your back porch, the spot where you eat breakfast, etc.
- When you go on vacation, GO ON VACATION. Trust your staff to be able to handle things in your absence. Don’t check in. Make sure at least one person knows how to reach you in case of a true emergency, and make sure that person can actually determine what constitutes a true emergency, and other than that, demonstrate your confidence in your employees’ abilities.
- Have at least one absorbing hobby or outside activity that has nothing to do with work. I learned this one in grad school. I was in an academic program, which has a truly unique and odd set of pressures, and I quickly noticed that students who had nothing major in their lives to offset grad school tended to lose perspective on a regular basis. You will, too.
- Get some exercise. You don’t have to get up at 5 am every morning to train for an Ironman, but find some way you enjoy moving your body and do it on a regular basis. What constitutes “regular”? That’s for you to decide.
- Remember: attention doesn’t scale. Choose carefully where you spend your limited supply.
What do you do to ensure – or at least promote – work/life balance for yourself? For your team? What does that concept mean to you?
Photo by Annemiek Smegen on Unsplash