Where Is the Boundary Between Your Work and Your Life?

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You work all day.

You check email at lunch and wherever you are. And then you keep checking (and answering) emails when you get home.

Do you ever stop working and start living?

More importantly, do you know where the boundary is between your work and your life?

Where is the Boundary?

Does your work day start when you check email in bed in the morning?

Are you still checking it before you go to sleep?

For many, work has taken over their lives.

They don’t know where one begins and one ends.

“To have a life, you need to have a boundary between your work and personal time.” (Tweet this Quote)

Do you have a life that you can discern from your work?

Is Work Your Life?

If you are like most people, your job runs into your personal life. (Although, for some it is the opposite…)

Mobile email and smartphones, can be a technology leash that keeps you always working.

But, it doesn’t have to be that way.

You can draw a boundary between your work and your life.

You just need to be clear about where one ends and the other begins.

Here are 10 Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Work And Life Boundary:

1. Where is the boundary between your work and your life? Do you know where work ends and your life begins? You need to have a clear distinction between the two.
2. Do you have balance? Without balance, things eventually topple over. If one of your areas is dominating the other, it will create problems in the other. For some, this reaches the extreme that one destroys the other.
3. Is one area negatively impacting the other? – Are you bringing work stress home? Or perhaps, you are bringing home stress to work? If you are not careful, your attitude and emotions in one area will negatively affect the other.
4. Which is more important to you? This is a tough one. Do you “Work to Live” or “Live to Work?” When there is a conflict, which one do you choose to put first? Your answer to this question can be very telling about your priorities.
5. Which do you spend more time on? – Life is all about quantity time. How much time are you spending on work versus life? You can’t spend the majority of your time on one and then cram the other into the few remaining moments of your day.
6. Are you doing something you enjoy? – People often think of this question as it relates to their job. Do you enjoy your work? But, it is not limited to your job. Do you also enjoy what you are doing with the personal time in your life?
7. Do you work after work? – Do you continue working into the evening? Receiving texts and email at all hours of the day. And even in bed with your smartphone?
8. Are you ever off duty? Do you ever punch out of the time clock? What hours of the day are you actually off duty?
9. Can you get work out of your head? – Are you able to disconnect from your work? Or do you spend your nights talking about work. Or losing sleep because of work stress and issues?
10. Do you take your vacation? – Almost 60% of workers don’t take all their vacation. If this is you, what you are saying is that work is more important that your life. You are willing to sacrifice your personal time for work.

Draw a Line Between Work and Life

You need to know where your work ends and your life begins.

Draw a distinct line between the two.

Be clear, so that you can tell where one ends and the other begins.

You might just be able to take some time off… and enjoy it.