Battle of the boundaries
Back when I had a job, eating at my desk was something I did occasionally, and under extreme protest. So I’m not proud to admit that I’m writing this article with a sandwich by my side.
In fact, now that I stop and think about it, eating lunch at my desk has pretty much become a daily occurrence since I’ve been a soloist.
I’m not sure when this habit formed, but it’s clearly indicative that the boundaries between my work and the rest of my life have become somewhat fuzzy.
In part that’s because of my brain’s inability to tolerate unfinished business. It routinely tries to convince me to ‘Just finish this one thing’ before taking a break. And since I’m often working on projects that take weeks or months to complete, that pretty much means that if my brain had its way, I would never be anywhere but at my desk.
There are other factors involved in me eating at my desk too. For example, a few years ago I put myself through a rigorous (and completely unsustainable) billable hours bootcamp after realising how much of my work time I was frittering away. That process revealed to me that on days I go out to lunch with someone else – or even use my lunch break to chat on the phone – my break invariably becomes longer than I intended, and my productivity in the afternoon is completely shot. The boundary I put in place about lunch breaks at the time now seems to have swung to the opposite extreme though.
Pondering all this has made me realise that it might be time to put myself through another bootcamp: this time one that reinforces the boundaries between work and personal time.
Want more articles like this? Check out the work-life-balance section.
Other than perhaps getting outside for a quick walk in the sun, I’m not quite sure what my bootcamp will comprise yet (I’ll get to that after I finish this one other thing on my list…) but I do think that it will do both me and my business the world of good.
Have you managed to tame the boundaries between work and the rest of your life? If so, please share your tips for my boundary bootcamp in the comments.
PS: Once I’ve figured out my plan, I’ll post about it over in the forum’s new accountability section. Please feel free to join in!
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