It’s hard to set boundaries, but it is very important that you do!

Aligned to topics: boundaries, work/life balance, truly human, self-empowerment

Originally written: June 7, 2021

As we all go into the season of many bank holidays and summer (or winter) fun – we need to remember to wind down the week as you head into a weekend. I wanted to share a few things that have been on my mind. I have had a lot of conversations about boundaries – what are boundaries??bound·a·ry?| /?bound(?)rē/ | a line that marks the limits of an area; a dividing line.

The nature of the work most of us do does not naturally allow us to add boundaries ~ but, I want to pose to you all – is it really the importance of the work we do that is keeping us up late, not letting us set boundaries OR is it because by default we are all high performers, committed to the work we do so we are actually self-imposing the ability not to add boundaries?

I know me, so think it is a little bit of both – I told someone the other day – I wish the “now” me could go back 15-20years and talk to the younger me about boundaries and the value around setting them early in your career/job/role and the expectations they bring. Not only for all the positives like work/life balance, truly human, but we get so engrossed in proving our value and selves that we are forgetting to stop and smell the roses. Now don’t get me wrong, of course there will be times when there are time-sensitive tasks, or a valid reason to be up super early, working really late, and some of this is driven by projects, seniority etc.?– but this should not be the norm … leadership has given us ALL permission to take care of ourselves and families.

So with this in mind here are a couple of tips I have implemented for myself, and my team, and offer them up to you:

• Set an out of office daily 5pm-9am, not that I will not join calls before or after, I just want people to understand that I will be the one dictating my acceptance if they choose to schedule the call on my "off-hours"
• Switch off your computer, I shut down my computer every day when I log off (black screen, top-down)
• Log out Teams, we work in MS Teams, I log out of Teams and switch it off
• Mobile access, since I have logged off, UNLESS leadership request or urgent – people know how to contact me, I DO NOT check my email on my phone OR log into Teams. I have none of these apps on my personal mobile (and I do not have a work mobile)
• No meeting Friday, this was a wonderful idea implemented in our organization last year, I am trying to take it forward within my team so we can end the week feeling productive and that we accomplished something - or we have just spent the week on calls

Think about what you can implement for yourself – my husband used to joke that my hobby was work, at first I used to laugh, but now honestly I am a little ashamed!