Companies are starting to make decisions on return to work, and you now find yourself re-evaluating what balance means. One of the significant benefits of remote work is managing life and getting work done. If you find yourself returning to the office soon below, I’ve shared some tips to help you maintain healthy work/life boundaries.
My favorite thing about working in the office is that you can leave your laptop at work! You don’t have to bring your laptop home, and you can use your commute home to decompress. With working in the office, there is that balance that you have to find with leaving work on time and knowing when you need to stay late or not. I get it; you may have to stay late or take your laptop home if there is a deadline. I can’t tell you what projects you should work on and which can wait until tomorrow, but you know.
So my advice is don’t get caught up in thinking that if you always leave on time, you’re not a hard worker. I’ve seen both those who leave early and hit goals and those who work late never hit goals. It’s all about time management.
Tip 1 – Manage & Respect Your Time – The boundaries you set will be what others respect
The difference with working in the office is that you can fill more pressure to say yes and or volunteer for tasks you can’t support. It’s ok to say I’d love to help, but I don’t have the capacity. If you are saying no to your manager, you may have to provide insight on what’s taking up your bandwidth, but it’s ok to share if you’re feeling stretched or overwhelmed. The goal is to complete all tasks assigned to you, not take on more and complete none.
Tip 2 – It’s ok to say No!
Lastly, working remotely, you can tune out and focus on your work for the most part. However, it’s not as easy when you have people stopping by your desk to catch up in the office. This is one of the things that’s great about the office being able to connect and build relationships with your colleagues. The key to setting boundaries is managing your time and calendar. Use your calendar to help you set boundaries with your time. You can add time blocks for focused work to ensure you can stay on track with getting things done.
Tip 3 – Use your calendar to manage your time
These three steps will help set boundaries so you can return to the office and maintain balance.
Are you looking forward to returning to the office?
Or are you looking to remain remote?
Tiffany
