3 Boundaries for Working Moms
If you are a working mom, you know that balancing life, motherhood, and a career can be incredibly difficult. This becomes an even trickier balancing act when you work from home or have to take your work home with you. Sometimes it feels like it’s impossible to separate your work life from your home life from your personal life. The lines are easily blurred and there is rarely a time when you can just put your work completely away. This should not be the case! By creating firm boundaries between work and home, you can find more peace and relaxation in the times you are not working. Here are three boundaries to set with work right now.
Don’t Respond After a Certain Time
Guess what? You are allowed to have a life that does not revolve around your job. Even if you are the owner of the company. Even if they could never do it without you. Constantly making yourself available to the people you work with reinforces the idea that you are always on call. If you make a boundary that you don’t respond after a certain time in the afternoon or before a certain time in the morning, that gives you space to free yourself from the constant contact your job might have with you. Just remember: the emails and messages will still be there later on and you can handle them at that point when you’re ready.
Don’t Take on Work Outside of Your Job Description
Many of us are people pleasers and have a hard time saying no to others, especially when they have some kind of authority over you. The reality of the situation is that your job has likely given you clear duties and responsibilities (and if they haven’t you need to have a chat with your boss) to which you can refer to. If you’re constantly being called to take on more than what you’re required to do, take note and politely say you cannot take that on because it is not part of your job responsibilities. Of course, there are times when being a team player and helping out in certain situations can go a long way. But be careful of doing this too often or just like with having constant contact, you’ll soon be the go-to person for everyone’s unwanted tasks.
Say No to the Extras When You Need to
Sometimes getting through a project, a day, or just a task at the normal amount of effort is more than enough. Sure, you love going all out on a lesson plan or making that social media graphic just right. But these are the extra things that don’t always make things easier. Going the extra mile can honestly be exhausting when you’re doing it over and over again. It’s perfectly okay to just get something done the way it was meant to be done. It’s more than alright to complete something without a ton of extra bells and whistles. Saying no to the extras can also look like not over committing to company social events or not using your time in a way that feels fulfilling to you.
No matter what type of job you have, creating clear boundaries and sticking to them can help make the division between your personal and work lives much more clear. You don’t have to work 24/7 or be on call at all hours of the day and night to be good at your job.
