Page 24 - PA_Enterprise_March_2022

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thing,” says Anna Kat Napier, founder of Boss
Girl Launch Pad. “I need to be able to stop my
work when he gets home so that we can catch
up with each other and spend dinnertime
together.”
If you live with a partner or children, it’s
important to spend some dedicated time
with them rather than always splitting your
attention between family and work obligations.
Scheduling parallel hours (for example,
cranking out work while your kids are at
school or during the same hours your spouse
or significant other is at their job) will allow
you to get things done but still have time to
connect with your family members when they
get home.
“That kind of alignment shows your spouse [or
family members] that you care about them,”
says Perkins, and are making it a priority to
have time together without distractions. Just
keep in mind that working parallel schedules
only works if you focus on work when it’s work
time and are ready and willing to shut down
when it’s over.
2. Set a Firm Stopping Point
It can be easy to lose track of time when
you’re working from home. And when you
finally take a breather and look at the clock,
somehow hours have passed – and you’ve
worked far longer than you intended. It’s so
easy to tell yourself “just five more minutes” or
“just one more email.” But working crazy hours
can throw your body out of whack.
“Your body is used to operating on a
schedule,” says Perkins. “Kids get up at the
same time, they go to school at the same time,
and this builds these rhythms and habits – and
it’s very easy to know what you’re supposed
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to be doing and when you’re supposed to be
doing it,” she adds. “Even as adults, we need
that for a sense of consistency – because
otherwise it just takes too long to figure out
where we are and what we’re supposed to be
doing.” Setting a firm stopping point every day
– and sticking to it – can help you keep your
work in check (and keep it from infringing on
the things you want and need to get done after
work).
3. Have a Trigger to End the Work Day (and
Start Personal Time)
Triggers (or cues) can be a powerful way to
form new habits. Having a routine that you
do every day when you finish work will send
a signal to your body and brain that work is
officially over – and it’s time to move on and
enjoy your personal time.
“At the end of the day, I make a to-do list for
tomorrow before shutting down my computer
and walking downstairs,” says Megan Winkler,
the owner of Limelight Visibility Marketing.
“For me, it’s the virtual equivalent to the
separation that a commute home gives.”
What you do as a routine to trigger the end of
work time and start of personal time is up to
you. My end-of-day routine is to take my dog
for a walk around our neighborhood, but you
can do a five-minute meditation, clean up your
office, or, like Winkler, organize your tasks into
a to-do list for the following day.
What you do is less important than doing it
every day. The routine “establishes a habit
that ‘after I do this, I’m going to relax.’ And so
it creates some separation between your work
self and your personal self,” says Perkins.
“And you need this in order to, again, fully
relax [and] get your mind on other things.”
March 2022