Building personal resilience is about consistent habits to prepare for and manage periods of difficulty of stress. Integrate Resilient Rituals into your day to day to build personal resilience and thrive – in work and life!
| The line between work and life is more blurred than ever with many of us working from home, and it’s so much more important! All of us are trying to produce good work and take care of ourselves and our loved ones in a period of incredible stress and fear – we can’t do any of that without clear boundaries. I’m lucky right now to have more flexibility in my schedule (and no kiddos to take care of or have to be doing home schooling with!) but sometimes more flexibility can blur the lines even more, and before too long you’re skipping family dinners to take calls or working into the night. When I was leading a team of 25 people all in lockdown and working from home it was easy to get sucked into a stream of endless zoom meetings and work later and later. I recognized the effect it was having on my ability to perform at work and handle the stress of the situation. It was no different for the individuals on my teams – in fact it was harder for some who had more commitments at home. I needed set clear boundaries between my work and my life to be there for my teams, but also to lead by example and help them do the same. The key to clear boundaries is a little up front work to establish what’s important to you – your deal breakers – and what you can flex on, then build structure around those things to set you up for success. Here are five ways to build better boundaries between work and life – and help you give your all to both! 1. Create a workday startup and shutdown ritual This is one of my favorite workday “hacks” which I learned from Michael Hyatt and his Full Focus Planner. Create a clear and consistent sequence of activities to start up your workday AND close down your workday. These help you get organized for the day, but also send a signal to your body that the workday is starting, or over. Your startup ritual could include setting your “big three” goals for the day, reviewing your inbox, reading the news or an article, or even include putting on work clothes! Your shutdown ritual could include reviewing your progress against your goals, setting next day goals, reviewing the next days calendar. When I was in lockdown, the last thing that I did at the end of each workday was turn off my desk lamp – that was the signal that I was done and “switched off” for the day. It’s also great to have something planned immediately after your workday ends to create “space” between work and life, like time with your family, a walk, a workout, or maybe even time on the couch with your favourite TV show. 2. Separate your workspace from your homespace Creating physical boundaries helps create mental boundaries! Create an organized, ergonomic, and well lit home office space that you can step into and – importantly – step out of when the day is done. I’ve compiled some tips for how to do this on this pinterest board. PLEASE don’t work from your bed or the couch – these are places associated with relaxing, fun, and sleep, not with work! If you have kids (depending on how much supervision they need in the day) another great physical boundary is this thing called a door. Obviously easier said than done, but it helps send the message that “Mommy is Working!”. One of the best ideas I’ve heard is one a friend uses, she has a letter box outside her home office door where her kids can put notes in for her throughout the day. The last thing on her workday shutdown ritual is reading her notes! If you don’t have the room to have an entirely dedicated space to your home office, there’s still things you can do. My sister works at the dining room table, but will pack all her work equipment away at the end of each day so it’s out of site. Many of us are going to be working from home a lot more in this new normal, and taking some time to organize and invest (if possible) in a good home office space will not only help your work productivity, but also your ability to switch off and recharge. 3. Block out “off” time on your calendar (lunch too!) Make your calendar work for YOU. Many of us now block out focus time to work on specific tasks uninterrupted – the same should apply to the end of your workday. My workday startup and shutdown rituals are in my calendar, as is a “busy” hour after my workday is done when I usually work out. If breakfast with the family is important to you, block it out on your calendar. If stepping away from your desk for 30 minutes at lunch helps you focus in the afternoon, block it out on your calendar. This is a powerful tool if you use it! 4. Enlist your team as accountability partners That is, TELL PEOPLE. Everything I’ve mentioned here I not only shared with my teams, I also encouraged them to do the same. We communicated the workday start and finish times that were best for us, the distractions we were facing at home, and the important times during the day where we needed to be away from our desks. When people know what your lines are (and of course, what to do if there’s an emergency), they are more likely to respect them. When you create a team culture around respecting people’s work/life boundaries, everyone benefits. 5. Stay firm on the important stuff, and flexible on the rest.As the old saying goes, “Sh*t Happens”. Some days there is no level of calendar structure that can help you step away from lunch or finish work on time. Sometimes there are important meetings that trump everything else. AND, you can still plan for the unpredictable. Get clear in your head what your deal-breakers are – is it an evening workout, dinner with the family, walking your dog? Treat your important life stuff as non-negotiable as your important work stuff, and when urgent issues do come up, be flexible on the rest. If you’re looking for more help, check out these journaling prompts I posted on my instagram this week. Get out a pen and paper and spend a few minutes with these questions to help you decide where and how to create clearer lines!⠀⠀⠀ In this time of mass uncertainty, stress, and fear, it’s more important than ever to have clear lines between work and life. Incorporate this #ResilientRitual into your day to make time to recharge and be at your best for our colleagues, friends, and family. How do you create lines between work and life? Share over on my instagram! Check out more resources on this pinterest page. Share the love! Check out this downloadable #ResilientRitual graphic showing these five ways to build work/life boundaries and pass along to a friend or colleague who needs to know |
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