Here's how you can establish healthy boundaries between work and personal life.

I was burned out and nearly quit my job in K-8 Guidance before I found the 3 keys to handle this. They have been life changing in helping me be happy, value myself, and prioritize my personal time: 1) Silence my phone notifications during off hours. 2) Use my “Out of Office” automatic reply on email. 3) Mentally remind myself I am changing from WORK to PERSONAL life as I walk out the door of my office (wherever it may be). Keep in mind you will be better at your job, nurture relationships, and create more happiness overall if you do 1-3. Even St. Pope John XXIII turned over the reigns to God when he went to sleep with this prayer: “Lord, I am going to bed now … the Church is in your hands!”

Boundaries are mechanisms to protect competing priorities. Ask: what matters to me? how does my time and energy reflect what's important? how can I exhibit discipline to protect the various important things? Understanding how work and home priorities need their unique time and energy is a great first step to recognize where the edges might be. Some people thrive listing all these things out while others prefer to intuit setting a boundary. In any case, the goal is to set a reasonable, achievable boundary and then reflect on its effectiveness.

Establishing healthy boundaries between work and personal life is crucial for maintaining balance and well-being. Start by clearly defining your work hours and sticking to them as much as possible, which helps create a clear distinction between work time and personal time. Communicate these boundaries to your colleagues and clients to set expectations. Designate a specific workspace at home to separate your work environment from your living space, which can help mentally switch off from work mode at the end of the day. It's important to prioritize self-care by scheduling regular breaks throughout the workday and dedicating time for activities you enjoy outside of work.

A healthy work-life balance is essential to a successful career and a fulfilling personal life. Priorities change every single day. Some days, it’s all work; other days, it’s something personal; and many days, it’s a mix of both. A clear method to focus on the essentials is to start the day with just three activities that would make that day a success. If you finish those three activities, then think of adding a cherry on top by doing a few more. A regular practice of reflection helps to ensure that you’re stepping away to recover and that you’re attending to the things that matter to you. The key is to look at what you planned to do, and what you will do differently going forward, all with self-compassion and with the goal of learning.

To establish healthy boundaries between work and personal life, communicate clearly. Let your clients and colleagues know your working hours and stick to them. It's important to be transparent about when you are available and when you need personal time. This helps manage expectations and prevents work from encroaching on your personal life. Do not feel guilty while communicating these boundaries. Be confident, knowing that your well-being and personal time are important. Clear communication ensures everyone respects your time, allowing you to maintain a healthy balance and perform better both professionally and personally.

If you don't say it, people will not know it. Clear communication helps the other person know what's important to you and what's unmanageable. It will prevent assumptions, misunderstandings, and problems. Let your managers or colleagues or friends know what you can and cannot do. Whether it is working late nights or weekends, professional or personal responsibilities, health challenges, helping with some other projects, out of scope work or anything else that you need support with, it needs to be said clearly. That's going to be the start of finding solutions and creating healthy boundaries and systems.

I've come to observe that Gen Z's are quite good at this and we can learn from them. They are very open and clear about working hours and have no fear expressing themselves. Some of us have struggled with self-expression and setting boundaries out of fear of losing our jobs or having others disappointed in us. Here's the thing,people treat you the way you treat yourself so if you can't be assertive in a respectful manner and set healthy boundaries you'll always be overworked and overwhelmed till you crash (burn-out) then your manager will find your replacement and life moves on .....

This is so important. Usually we stay silent and no one else knows of the situations we are trying to deal with. We have to find our voice and speak up and share. I had a client, a single mom who had to drop her ADHD child to the daycare centre at a certain hour and she was always late to work. She kept silent, started feeling guilty and unhappy. The team started looking at her differently, there was tension. I told her to share the situation with her manage. Finally when she did the manager simply said “oh I was not aware of your situation. This is important, your child needs to be cared for, I will let the team know too” And everything changed. Communicate openly, people around are good.

Here's the biggest challenge in communicating boundaries- No one can read your mind. You know you're busy with the XYG project, juggling 856 deadlines due yesterday, while at home dealing with... You know it. You're pretty sure you've expressed it. But no one is thinking about it. They are thinking about their deadlines, project, manager, home... So when explaining why you need to set boundaries, you need specifics and facts. If your emotions take over, all they hear are the emotions. And they get defensive or make assumptions. Share the facts respectfully, take a few minutes to write out your work timelines, projects, etc...and then share them in email (keep it point form) or as a visual aid in a conversation, online or in person.

When it comes to prioritizing; Work with what works for you and makes your task easier. Start your day and plan a day before by listing three main tasks to focus on, ensuring you tackle the most important ones first. Use Tools and trust me when I say there are effective tools for everything out there, you name it, and it's there. Use them for your productivity. Use separate Calendars but with combined views for scheduling and managing your work meetings, personal appointments, engagements, work tasks, PTM's. Use a To-do list for anything and everything, work, meetings, calls, shopping, etc. Finally, goes without saying, always make plans beforehand, eg; for the next day's meeting keep documents, work attire, and transport sorted.

As a full-time employee and a coach, reviewing all my tasks and prioritizing is essential. It is critical to be 100% present and engaged where I need to be. How do I prioritize? Identify the importance of each task and when it has to be completed. There are some tasks that can be set up as a run rate and divide throughout the week. Divide the tasks in different buckets to identify importance and complete them timely.

Para definir prioridades, come?o sempre a fazer esta análise com os meus mentorados: Qual o impacto de nível de importancia que esta tarefa / atividade tem nos meus objectivos pessoais/profissionais? Quanto tempo ela demora vs o tempo em que me vai pesar emocionalmente enquanto n?o a fa?o?

Prioritizing work and personal life requires balance. Start by identifying your most important tasks and responsibilities in both areas. Use a planner or digital tool to schedule your day, allocating specific time blocks for work, family, and self-care. Set clear boundaries, like no work emails during family time. Learn to say no to non-essential tasks and delegate when possible. Regularly review and adjust your priorities, ensuring you’re addressing urgent and important matters in both spheres.

Aprender a ouvir a mente antes que o corpo dê sinais, esses s?o os primeiros passos para que as pessoas respeitem nossos limites.

There is a huge aspect of cultural bias when it comes to saying No. I have been raised in a culture that "encourages" obediance and agreableness, especially with older and more senior individuals. As such, it has been challenging to say no as I felt the need to transition out of this habit.

It comes down to values. Your values. Is what you’re doing compromising your values? If so then it’s time to realise and start saying no. Saying no can feel harsh so have a go at softening if it you need eg I can’t do that right now I’ve another commitment. Or it might be it’s someone else’s job to do and they are just leaning on you to do it. Time to step in and not feel like you need to take on others issues.

Over the past 20 years of my working life, the one common thing I have noticed from job to job is that there is always one person who ends up getting landed with those tasks that don't necessarily fit with any specific department or team - this person is almost always the person who just doesn't know how to say no! Over time, it's taken as a given that this person will be the go to for these tasks with little to no thanks. It's important to remember that people will treat you how you let them. Getting comfortable saying no and understanding when it is absolutely ok to say no can be extremely freeing.

I heard it said once (by Brooke Castillo, I believe) that, 'no is a full sentence'. We often feel the need to justify our answer, or even apologise for it, but Brooke suggests just honouring yourself by saying 'no' and liking your reason for saying no, and finding comfort in that. For me, this is still a work in progress!

Despite what the world tries to tell us, work is something we do - not who we are. I love my job, but being a coach is not the only thing I am. If you find yourself lost in your work identity, reflect on the other parts of you that are important or that bring you joy. Prioritising these aspects of you and the activities that nurture you will make it easier for you to look forward to something rather than feeling like a disappointment for leaving work late. It takes practice and, perhaps, someone to help you to start with, but it will become easier when you've tapped into the whole, complex human that you are.

As a relationship-focused coach, I’ve seen how taking time to unplug regularly can enhance my focus on the present. How am I today? What went well? When did I struggle? These important questions don’t apply solely to clients. It can be easy to get tangled up in the world around you. By taking time for yourself, your family and friends you can successfully remove, even temporarily, the filtering lens of technology that remains a constant in your life. Take time each day, or each week, to find balance. Then, when the time is right, enter back into the ever-present routine of your life.

With the volume of information coming at us through our phones and our computer / laptop screens, we can begin to lose our creative ability as well as lose perspective. With social media, whatever you give time to, you will be shown more of. Taking time away, especially in nature can help you become grounded, clear your head and regain balance in your thoughts. Have you ever received an email that caused you to feel upset or angry to the point where you want to send a very pointed reply? Next time that happens, before you hit send on that reply, get up and away from your phone etc, take a beat to yourself and once you feel your nervous system begin to calm, I imagine you will craft a much different response.

Unplugging can be hard but is essential for balance and boundaries. Set aside time when you will unplug. Or set aside spaces (like the bedroom or your car) when you are not connected or checking your phone or devices. Unplugging a little bit and then a little bit more over time can help you gradually achieve better balance. It is also helpful to communicate with others that there are times when you will not be available or connected.

Self-care often gets a bad reputation of being perceived as selfish. In reality, self-care is a restorative act that nurtures mind, body, and spirit. The demands of life and career can take a toll and self-care is there to help you restore and refresh yourself when you need it. To build a successful self-care practice, it's important to recognize the signals that self-care is needed, as well as understand what practices or activities help to restore you. From there you can create intentional time to dedicate each week or month to self-care time.

You know that self-care is important but it can be really challenging to take time off sometimes, right? So here is one simple way to prioritize rest and make it part of your routine that I find easy to implement and can be very effective: Schedule blank time for yourself: Every time you add a meeting or a task to your schedule, block out a similar amount of time for you. Use it to think, relax, and recharge.

I often state that you can't pour from an empty vessel and that is true. We often pour out caring for everyone else, and neglect to take care of ourselves. Self-care should be the number one priority on your list. Schedule it regularly and establish boundaries around it. Self-care is truly the best care, and when you are taking great care of you, you are more equipped. You are spiritually, emotionally and mentally able to handle what comes your way without losing your cool or reacting in a regretful way. You can respond and speak with the law of kindness. Keep your cup full; only then can you freely pour out to others and give them the best of you, without depleting yourself or burning out.

Muy de acuerdo, integrar el cuidado personal y además, "hacer descanso". Para evitar entrar en ese piloto automático que nos aparta del descanso mental y nos lleva a la llamada "mente mono". Calmarla es posible cuando aceptamos y comprendemos que hacer descanso es una actividad saludable para tu cuerpo, tu mente y tu corazón. Os animo a practicarla.

I ascribed to the grind and hustle-hard philosophy. It was all I knew. I did not know how to power down and pace myself. That worked until it didn't land me in urgent care with pneumonia throughout my lungs. I was in pain but I had clients to take care of and a conference to attend. And a short tip on the back end to have a little fun. My hustle mode turned my fun trip into 3 days I was in bed with a high fever and bottles of medicine. I know that a change needs to happen. Once I was clear to fly home, the restoration began. I would not be there for everyone else and not for myself. I was out of integrity with my values and had to reevaluate my definition of success.

There are a lot of fabulous ideas and strategies in this thread; by all means, scroll through and take notes... and then also pause to notice that your work doesn't want you to be balanced. Not if you work for someone else, not if you work for yourself. Your work - and the culture that it lives in - wants you to be a good little worker bee. It wants your scarcity fears to overcome your need for quiet, calm, and self-care. To defy that wish, to choose your own well-being, to treat your work as only one aspect of your life (albeit an important one) is a radical act, an act of resistance, an act of shaping your bigger life and badder self. You deserve this, your loved ones deserve this, and the world needs this.

I love this story: I hired a plumber: Jack to help restore an old farmhouse. His first day was rough: a flat tire, a broken drill, and a truck that wouldn’t start. On the drive home, he sat in silence. Upon arriving, he invited me in to meet his family. As we approached his front door, he paused at a small tree, touching its branches. When Jack opened the door, his demeanor transformed. He smiled, hugged his children, and kissed his wife. Later, as he walked me to my car, I asked about his ritual with the tree. “Oh, that’s my trouble tree,” he said. “I can’t avoid job troubles, but they don’t belong in the house. So, I hang them on the tree every night. In the morning, I pick them up again, but there are never as many as I remember.”

It’s important to first understand what healthy boundaries mean for the stage of life you are in. What are your priorities? How much work- life balance do you desire? What communication, actions and behaviors will support this with other relevant parties both at work and home? What are you hoping to achieve by creating this boundary? How will you know you were successful in having the work life balance? What are the situations which will be exceptions to the rule? Thinking through on the above questions will provide clarity first to you, which will then enable sharing it clearly with other associated parties.

Having different physical locations for work and personal life can make a big difference in your productivity and well-being. Even if you're working from home, try to designate a specific space for work to help create a separation. Before finishing work for the day, take a moment to jot down the tasks you need to tackle tomorrow. This simple act can help alleviate any anxiety about unfinished tasks and keep you organized. Remember, work is a lifelong journey, so it's important to focus on balance and longevity. Just like running a marathon, pace yourself and remember to refuel along the way. Incorporating physical exercise into your daily routine, either before or after work, can help boost your energy levels and reduce stress.