Drawing the Lines
Overcoming the blur that has become work / home imbalance.
Last week the topic of commuting came up in two conversations I had.
In one, it was pointed out how the commute from work to home can be therapeutic, providing a buffer as we transition from employee / worker to parent / partner / provider / caretaker / etc. It’s a temporary space to let your mind wander, listen to music or a podcast, scroll through social media or do a Sudoku (assuming you’re on public transit and not driving), or simply watch the world around you.
For many of us working from home now, that’s gone. Which leads to the second conversation.
I was a few minutes late to a Zoom meeting, because the one before ran over. I find this happening more often lately, and shared it with a friend, who was experiencing the same thing. There are some meetings that run short because we realize that we’ve covered everything in our quick check in, and there’s no need to drag it out. Others pack hours of agenda items into whatever block of time that’s been allocated and push to — and sometimes beyond — the designated end time.
Back when we were commuting, whether it be to and from the office, or from one face-to-face meeting to another, we built in travel time. Leave work by 5:30, be home by 6. End a meeting at 1:45 or 1:50 to get to the next one by 2. And even that had its flaws. On my good days, when I was being thoughtful about scheduling, that 2pm meeting should actually start at 2:30 so there’s time to unpack the action items from the previous meeting, be really clear on next steps rather than rush through, prep for the next meeting, and maybe, you know, take a break, walk around, grab a healthy snack, and enjoy a few moments of quiet.
Now, not only have I fallen into the trap of unrealistic back-to-back scheduling, I’m also often finding myself forgetting that I am the onsite support person for my kids’ schooling. While they’ve been coping with schooling from home fairly well, they are still kids. I need to check on them generally. And sometimes they have tech issues, focus issues, sibling issues, or other challenges that need intervention. In a nutshell, I need to remember that “the office” is also “the school” which is also “the home.” That will be another post for another day, because there are too many stories to tell.
So for now, I will conclude with these brief recommendations:
- Set a start time and an end time to your “work” day. It’s easy to just keep doing stuff and have it drag. Be intentional, and log off for the day.
- Note that you can also be nontraditional. My kids and I play basketball daily at 3:15pm, unless there’s some meeting or work activity that I can’t reschedule. They need a break from Zoom, and so do I, and that is the daytime hour that makes sense for us. I make up the work hour in the early evening (but again, I don’t unnecessarily stretch this into the night, because that’s the setup for burnout, and we have no interest at all in that manifestation).
- Space things out. You can certainly binge meetings like you do Netflix shows, but if it’s something you care about, build in gaps so that you don’t feel rushed, out-of-control, underprepared, and ineffective. Make time for yourself throughout the day to review, prep, eat, stretch, destress, connect with family, exercise, and more.
You are the boss of this daily adventure called “working from home.” Everything matters. Leverage your flexibility and freedom by not latching on to old ways of thinking and doing. It’s a new day. Get clearer on your whats and whens by establishing boundaries. You will feel better, work better, and live better.
