Hi there. So this week, I want to talk about the importance of setting personal boundaries. And a great reflection and example of this is what I’ve been doing more intentionally to do just that, to work a little bit differently, to take more time off intentionally, to plan and safeguard, you know, trips to rejuvenate and kind of rest and recharge. And I talked about this in a couple of my other posts recently.
I’m up in Lake Placid now I’m getting a hike into that on a Monday, which I never normally would be able to do because I’ve created some boundaries and some guardrails in my professional and personal life. So I want to show you a couple of tips that I’ve really found helpful. If you’re looking to create space between your career and your personal life and actually in so doing become more productive, more focused in the time you’re working and also then more present and enjoying more of your personal time. Doing the things you love with the people you love.
Create set time blocks to establish when you will and will NOT work
So this could be setting expectations with clients that communication ends after a certain time, unless it’s an emergency. Communication after 8:00 PM will get answered the next day, or it could even be an autoresponder on emails. Meaning we’ll get back to within 12 hours, somebody from my team, or I will get back to you. It’s setting the communication preferences from the beginning and from the outset with clients, colleagues, and your boss. So that you’re not all of a sudden beholden to really long hours, crazy claims and demands on your time.
So prime example, I send some of my employees emails and text messages on off business hours, whether it be the evening or weekends. But I realized that there needs to be a place where there’s not work. In your mind and your life, there needs to be that balance and separation.
I’m trying to work on that, realizing that the way I work to get things out and just out of my mind creates a little bit of interruption in somebody enjoying their personal time. Again, it’s setting expectations, it’s communicating clearly and it’s creating boundaries in your professional life. So it’s this whole idea of realizing that tomorrow is another day that there is time for all of this, that just because we have a huge to-do list, we don’t make it through everything each day. That’s okay. As long as we’re ambitious, we’re working hard and being focused and productive in our time at work.
Set strong morning and evening routines to help you create and maintain boundaries in your life
This safeguards personal time at the beginning and the ending of each day. So I firmly believe that if we win the morning, we win the day, right? You’ve probably heard that phrase. It’s the idea of having time in the morning where you do the things that are important to you, center you and set you up for success. You’re doing those things when you have time before the rest of the world is up before the working world and the business day starts when it gets hectic and chaotic.
My morning routine usually takes me about an hour and a half. It includes taking my vitamins, drinking a glass of water, writing my gratitudes, reading affirmations, spending 45 minutes reading a few different news sources. Mainly the Wall Street Journal for current events, market and industry information.
Confirm your goals and plan for the day
Enter your work day with intention, focus and centeredness. I wouldn’t have had this without my morning routine. Had I woken up late, I would have felt behind, I would have felt reactive. I wouldn’t be fully focused on projects throughout the day. A strong morning routine is key. A strong evening routine is almost equally important. You need to unwind and get away away from screens, and spend time reading, with family, and connect with friends.
We need that to unwind. I constantly worked up to the point right before I went to sleep. For me, somebody who’s single without kids that works. If you have a family that’s not going to work as a sustainable model.
I’m really trying to turn off and have at least a couple hours of downtime for my evening routine, which usually includes time block to reading, maybe a documentary, a run, some kind of cardio being outside, could be going out and meeting up and connecting with friends, but it’s generally not work related. Preparing yourself for rest for a restful night is also really key to safeguarding your time.
Creating boundaries. They can create a line of delineation and differentiation between your working world at a time and your personal life and time as well. So hopefully these were helpful, just a couple of tips on how to set and create and maintain boundaries in your life. This will help you be more focused, intentional, productive at work, and it will help you be more engaged in present in your personal life, in your relationships with your family, your friends, and doing the things that you love the most with the people you love the most.
So if you’ve got value from this, drop a comment or like, or share this for somebody who could as well. To your success and happiness, we’ll talk to you next week.