Putting in 12-hour days. Constantly being stressed about work. Not being able to sleep because you’re thinking about your job. Not spending quality time with your loved ones because you’re always at the office…

No one wants to live like this. Working non-stop is not a life anyone aspires to. The problem is that kind of life can be an easy trap to fall into if you don’t have clear boundaries between your work and the rest of your life.

When you separate work and life and focus on them individually you get better focus, attention and results in each. Not only that, but people deserve a separation between you work and your life.

Customers & Clients

Your clients/customers/employer are paying you for your time, and they deserve to get what they pay for. If you are constantly letting yourself be distracted from your job by making dinner, chatting with friends, or working on your kids Halloween costume you are doing your clients/customers/employer a disservice. Actually, you’re cheating them of what they rightfully paid for.

Clients deserve to have your full attention on their project while you’re on the clock. If you work from home it helps to have a separate, specific space for work. When you’re there you’re at work and shouldn’t be disturbed. But its the same wherever you work. While you are getting paid focus on giving value to the people paying you.

Family

Your family and friends deserve for you to pay attention to them while you are with them too. Continuing to work (so easy to do now with smart phones, laptops and tablets) even while physically present doesn’t fly. It devalues the relationships of the people you’re with. When you’re with your family they deserve all of your thoughts and attention. This is a lesson Henry learned the hard way when his daughter essentially called him “Daddy Who Seems To Be Here But Actually Isn’t”.

Likewise, even being mentally distracted by work can really hinder your experience of life. Practice being present in relationships (your spouse will thank you), conversations and even menial activities. Zone in on who you’re with and what you’re doing.

You

Know who else it helps when you separate work and life? You.

You deserve to not be working all the time, you deserve to have a life too. If you constantly have work thoughts fluttering in the back of your head while  living the rest of your life – doing activities you enjoy – you are robbing those experiences of their full richness. Even if you love your job, be more than your job! Be a fuller, richer person who doesn’t always have to be thinking about one thing. Take a break, get away, relax! You can’t fully do that if you’re work-brain is always on.

Do This Now:

Tonight, spend an entire evening with your family. No work calls, emails, tweets – nothing related to your job. If you need to, schedule it with your boss or your clients – let them know you’ll be unavailable. Completely focus on your family, your friends and yourself.

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Or, read one of these:

1. The 2011 Apt Design Ebook – Creating Work/Life Balance
2. Share Life
3. Guest Blog Post on Creating a Healthy Work/Life Balance

My whole family is coming into town this year for Christmas (drawn to what I wonder?) and like many of you I’ll be taking off work to spend time with family.  For that I’ll be unavailable from December 24th – January 1st.

I’ll then jump right back in and be happy to help you finish up some projects and make sure everything is running smoothly.  I will then be taking another break to recharge, work on some personal projects, look at my business over the past 2.5 years, and plan for times ahead.  For that I will be unavailable from January 14th – 20th.

After that I look forward to providing you with more great design service that connects you to your clients!

I hope you have a relaxing and restful holiday break as well.  (Don’t ignore it – You Need a Break)

No related posts.

But I do think breaks are important.  There are two types I’d like to mention which are important for your business (whether you are an owner or an employee).

The Full-Day Work Break

This kind of break lets you escape the normal routine and confines of the workday, just for a day, and can help your company tremendously.  The idea here is to get out of the office, away from your tasks and phone calls, but to still let your mind drift to work-related thoughts.

Getting out of your normal environment can help your brain do the same thing.  Not bringing email or a phone with you helps keep you distraction free.  Now you can have time to think of bigger-picture problems in a different way, and hopefully see new solutions.
Some sort of exercise helps stimulate thought as well.  As your body is engaged let your mind drift to work-related issues and you may see complicated problems begin to simplify and bound up topics begin to unravel.

Take along a piece of paper or a journal and record the solutions you think of during this full-day work break.  Make it like a brainstorming session for the general direction of your company – no answer is wrong.  Later you can go back and find the ideas that were completely off-the-wall and the ones that have break-inspired genius.

The No-Work Vacation

Sometimes the full-out vacation is the best medicine for both you and your business.  Take a huge break, get away from everything work-related both physically and mentally.  Get out of the office, out of the city, out of the state.

What a relief it can be to get away from everything and just do what you love to do best.  Immerse yourself totally in the enjoyment of camping, watching movies, playing with your kids, boating, or whatever.  The vacation can help you remember what you love in life and why you work in the first place.

What about now?  Why not take a quick break now?  Get up and look out the window and take a few deep breaths.  Come back renewed and ready to tackle problems from a different perspective.

Or, read one of these:

1. Series Break