Problems Due To Not Separating Private Life And Professional Life
Nowadays it is extremely difficult to separate work life from personal life. Digital media has ensured that we are in constant communication with both environments and, consequently, dividing them is not an easy task. Going one step further, teleworking, which is the order of the day, has not helped in this since by occurring in the same home, it has managed to merge both lives even more.
As Christena Nipper-Eng, sociologist and professor at Indiana University, commented, there are two types of people: integrators and segmenters. The first group brings work home, sends work emails during their free time, discusses work-related matters with their partners, leaves their inbox open in a browser tab, and works from a single device. On the other hand, the latter establish clear boundaries between the office and home, avoid checking the inbox after a certain time, turn off notifications on work devices at night, allocate part of the day to meetings and calls, and use a phone or stand-alone laptop.
Now, we have always heard that we should try to leave work problems aside when we get home. In fact, it is common to hear comments about the importance of separate professional and personal life , but why? What problems does not know how to separate one life from the other? Stay to find out the answer to this question since, in today’s article, we will focus on the consequences of not setting limits and ending up merging both areas.
Why is it important to keep your professional and personal life separate?
In recent years, the effects of a lack of balance between professional and personal life on our stress levels have been increasing to such an extent that they are evident. Furthermore, we must add to this the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced us to mix personal and professional lives more than ever. Since then, Maintaining a healthy balance between the two is a challenge that is essential for our physical and mental health Therefore, below we list some of the problems that this situation entails:
Not maintaining an adequate balance between personal and work life does not help when it comes to focusing on doing what you need to do. Being at home pending work things causes communication to decrease, conflicts to become increasingly common and, in general, the family climate to worsen.
The same thing happens the other way around. Being at work time pending family matters decreases productivity and this can lead to serious consequences We must be able to set limits and be where we need to be at all times. It is important to understand that we cannot be involved in a thousand things at the same time since we end up not doing any of them correctly.
2. More stress
Stress and burnout are two of the most common health problems linked to mixing work and family today. Those people who manage to separate their personal and work lives are aware of established work schedules and are able to create a boundary between office responsibilities and the rest of the day. This significantly helps combat the stress that flourishes when trying to lead both lives together.
3. Worse health
The inadequate balance between professional and personal life gives less control over schedules and, consequently, find free time to exercise, meditate, plan meals, and do what you love It is extremely complicated. After all, allocating time in your day to do physical activity and, in turn, having the discipline to plan daily tasks around your personal life provides significant benefits to your health, happiness and well-being.
Furthermore, when you are able to respect the boundary between the office and the family, you find the time and space necessary to share with those closest to you, work on personal projects and take care of household chores. This also improves health comprehensively.
How to separate professional life from personal life?
Perhaps you have realized the positive side of separating your professional and personal life, however, it is not always easy and you may not know how to do it. According to experts, it largely depends on the personality of the person and whether they identify more with the category of integrators or segmenters mentioned at the beginning. However, we can always do our part to try to separate these areas and thus take advantage of their benefits. Therefore, below we present some tips for this:
1. Keep track of how you distribute your time
Make an effort for a week or two to take note of how you spend each hour of the day , whether working, socializing or doing what you like most. This is of utmost importance since to achieve the right balance between professional and personal life, the first step is to know what the current situation is.
2. Your devices are a reason for not achieving the division between both lives
To do this, create different user accounts for work and personal life. This prevents notifications and work reminders from interrupting your free time and also helps reduce distractions, allowing you to stay focused during the day.
3. Excessive unproductive meetings lengthen the workday
It is recommended reduce the length and frequency of meetings so you can finish tasks and enjoy other areas of your life Analyze with your coworkers the number of meetings you have a week and together, look for ways to solve it.
4. Communicate
Communicate your situation to trusted co-workers and Tell your colleagues what your availability is so that they avoid sending or responding to non-urgent emails outside of work hours. Remember that these are almost always issues that can wait.
