Boundaries

#Beingaleader means you need to have boundaries. Boundaries from one area of your life to another. Something that separates out your mind, your energy and/or your time from one activity to another. Something that separates work from family, recreation from projects etc.

In the area of work, this has proven to be the hardest thing to achieve during the past year’s pandemic and remote working. It used to be based more upon the clock. There were natural boundaries at the front and end of each day called commuting. Those times were difficult from a time, driving and stress perspective but they did achieve one thing: separation from work. Boundaries.

Enter 2020, 2021 and perhaps beyond and all boundaries seem to be lost. No more commuting except perhaps going downstairs. No more natural boundaries. No barriers to the onslaught. It’s becoming overwhelming. Tiring. Exhausting. And depleting.

It’s time to create new ones. Artificially made. But hopefully, as effective. This is not a post about a track record of success. It’s about a need that I see in a lot of people right now. Difficult to set times for family when work never stops. Difficult to focus on a time with a friend because other areas of your life creep in and take over that time slot.

Some ideas might include having conversations with your work to determine what the new expectations are and how that fits with your current lifestyle. Additionally, it might be stripping activities and projects out of your life for a time. Perhaps you are doing too much. Maybe it wasn’t too much before but it is now. Maybe it’s truly taking time off (weekends, evenings, vacation) without checking on the status of a project.

#Beingaleader means you need to set boundaries. Old ones are gone. It’s time to create some new ones.