MANAGE YOUR WORK AND LIVE YOUR LIFE TO THE FULLEST !

For all of us working professionals , a typical workday is long enough as it is, and technology is making it even longer. When you finally get home from a full day at the office, your mobile phone rings incessantly, emails keep pouring into your inbox from people who expect almost immediate responses.

While most people claim to disconnect as soon as they get home, recent research says otherwise. A study conducted by the American Psychological Association found that more than 50% of us check work email before and after work hours, throughout the weekend, and even when we are sick. Even worse, 44% of us check work email even during  vacations.

Research says that the expectation that people need to respond to emails during off-work hours produces a prolonged stress response, called "Telepressure". Telepressure.  ensures that you are never able to relax and truly disengage from work. This prolonged state of stress is terrible for one’s mental and physical well being. Besides increasing your risk of heart disease, depression, and obesity, stress decreases your cognitive performance.

Hence, it is necessary that we establish boundaries between our personal and professional lives. When we don’t, our work, our health, and our personal lives suffer. 

We need to make the critical distinction between what belongs to your employer and what belongs to you and stick to it. Below are some areas that need your attention . If you don’t set boundaries around them and learn to say “No” to your boss, you’re giving away something of immeasurable value.

Your Health. It’s difficult to know when to set boundaries around your health at work because the decline is so gradual. Allowing stress to build up, losing sleep, and sitting all day without exercising all adds up. Before you know it, you’re rubbing your aching back with one hand and your zombie-like eyes with the other, and you’re looking down at your newly-acquired belly. The key here is to not let things sneak up on you, and the way you do that is by keeping a consistent routine. Think about what you need to do to keep yourself healthy (climbing stairs and avoiding elevators, taking walks during lunch, not working on weekends, taking your vacations as scheduled, etc.) Make a plan, and stick to it no matter what. If you don’t, you’re allowing your work to overstep its boundaries.

Your Family. It’s easy to let your family suffer for your work. Many of us do this because we see our jobs as a means of maintaining our families. We have thoughts such as “My kids should get all the facilities I did not get when I was young , I need to make more money so that my kids can go to college debt-free. etc etc.  ” Though these thoughts are well-intentioned, they can burden your family with the biggest debt of all—a lack of quality time with you. When you’re on your deathbed, you won’t remember how much money you made for your family but the memories you created with them.

Your Identity. While your work is an important part of your identity, it’s dangerous to allow your work to become your whole identity. You know you’ve allowed this to go too far when you reflect on what’s important to you and work is all that (or most of what) comes to mind. Having hobbies and pursuing them is important . An identity outside of work is about more than just having fun. It also helps you relieve stress, grow as a person, and avoid burnout.

Bringing It All Together

Success and fulfilment often depend upon your ability to set smart boundaries. Once this is achieved, everything else just falls into place.