I had the chance to listen to a webinar a couple of weeks ago, and the topic was managing work-life boundaries during COVID-19. We are all facing so many challenges with the onset of COVID-19. Everyone is struggling, but in different ways. Whether you have children or no children; Maybe you are caring for elderly parents. Maybe you are having a hard time adjusting to the new way of working. Wherever you fall in that spectrum, you aren’t alone.
The structures that we had to manage our life were disrupted by COVID-19. It’s been almost exactly a year since I began working remotely. And what a ride it’s been.
Why are work-life boundaries important?
It all starts with learning to manage ourselves better and how can we work better with our teams. There have been times when I have little to no boundary control. If I’m on a tight deadline, I know that I need to answer the phone and the emails when they come in. It’s kind of the nature of the job. But, this idea of response times leaves us in a grey area. I’ve learned that it’s best to be up front about what’s going on with you and your team. Right now, with our house renovation going on, my response times are not going to be as fast, and I’ve let me team know. It’s not realistic to maintain an unrealistic pace. We need to give ourselves some grace.
Psychological PPE
We have all talked a lot about physical PPE during the pandemic. But what about our psychological PPE? We are all living in unprecedented times. There are situations completely out of our control. It’s important to acknowledge small ways (and big ways) you can take care of yourself emotionally. Maybe that means adopting a pet. For me, it means making sure I get out and exercise regularly to burn off some of that steam. My husband and I also take our dogs for a walk every evening before we eat dinner to decompress and slowly start that withdrawal from email and work. A phone call with a friend. Maybe you can read a book or listen to some music. Anything that can get your mind off of work (and/or the pandemic) and put you in a better frame of mind.
The people who are able to create effective work-life boundaries have reduced stress, reduced work/life conflict, reduced burnout and improved well-being. This translates to higher employee engagement, reduced turnover and higher productivity within organizations.
Let’s talk technology
Our iPhones are a blessing and a curse. On one hand, they can act as a mobile desk when we are away from our physical one. On the other hand, you have access 24/7 to emails, texts and calls. And it can be difficult to set aside non-working time when you are constantly checking for that next email to come in.
If you are able to, it might be a good idea to have a separate phone just for work – and one for your personal life. Look, Aaron and I are just as guilty as working from our phones. My husband runs his business from his phone. And that can spillover at times. I can’t tell you how many times dinners are interrupted by phone calls, but I can tell you the amount of times those calls have been emergencies. Aaron has gotten better at minimizing these phone calls and setting boundaries – or boundary control – as much as possible, and I’m proud of him. And this comes back to being family-centric as opposed to work-centric. This doesn’t mean that we don’t like to work, but it does mean that we respect our time together as a family.
Finding time for yourself
Unless you structure a few hours or minutes each day for yourself, it isn’t going to happen. You need to be intentional about this. Whether it’s taking some technology-free time at the end of the day. Maybe it means not sleeping with your phone right next to your bed. Maybe it’s getting the family out of the house to spend some time outside at the end of every day. If you can find some time to yourself and avoid that job creep (when work life creeps into our personal life), you are moving in the right direction.
In closing…..
At the end of the day, we all need to be kind to ourselves. We can often be too hard on ourselves. We hold ourselves to high expectations, and the pandemic has exacerbated that to a certain extent. Take stock of the things you are doing that are positive. Enjoy the small moments you can take for yourself and know that this isn’t going to last forever.
