Time Management Skills - Pros and Cons for Drawing Strong Boundaries Between Work and Home

Time management requires making tough decisions every day. You alone must decide what balance to strike between work and home. You maintain this balance with a boundary. It may be strong or it may be flexible. The most successful boundaries are those that match your values and that you communicate clearly.

What happens if you create a strong boundary between work and home? It all depends upon factors like your temperament, your communication skills, and the strength of your support system. Explore these advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages to Drawing Strong Boundaries Between Work and Home:

Advantage #1: Fewer Interruptions

If you discourage emergency calls from home or work, your schedule is less likely to be disrupted by others' urgency. Constantly reacting to urgency can lead to rash decisions that undermine your effectiveness and erode others' trust.

Advantage #2: Promoting Competence in Others

Encouraging those who are qualified to handle emergencies on their own promotes their confidence and competence. Helping prepare them to grow into such responsibilities demonstrates trust and can lead to further closeness.

Advantage #3: Capacity to Focus on One Thing at a Time

Strong boundaries reduce outside distraction and encourage focus, flow, and personal productivity both at work and at home. Recent studies indicate that 2 or more hours per day of productivity are sacrificed to daily distractions in the U.S. workforce.

Disadvantages to Drawing Strong Boundaries Between Work and Home:

Disadvantage #1: Untended Problems Might Escalate

If demands that arise at home or work can't be successfully delegated, those problems can escalate, consuming even more time. In the same way that effective delegation builds trust, persistent failure can introduce more stressors and undermine productivity.

Disadvantage #2: Reduced Personal Flexibility

If you can easily transition from work to home activities, maintaining rigid distinctions can discourage creative solutions that enrich both areas of your life. You need to determine if this you would experience this as a loss of autonomy.

Disadvantage #3: Fewer Opportunities for Informal Sharing and Delegation of Responsibilities

Some people create flexible partnerships in which responsibilities are shared and differing strengths are pooled, to everyone's benefit. Regimenting roles and maintaining strict boundaries deprives both parties from cooperative enterprises.

Which Option Will Work the Best for You?

Do you find yourself nodding strongly about the pros or cons? Your initial response provides you with valuable information about your intuitive grasp of how each set of options would affect you. Jot down what comes to mind. Now, temporarily set aside your immediate reaction so that you can weigh the practical considerations. Take all the time you need to sort out the specifics. What can wait? What needs to be delegated? Answering these questions helps you prioritize and clarify lines of responsibility.

Jot down whom will be affected by the new boundaries. Discuss who will do what, and when, with everyone involved. For example:

* Under what circumstances will you take work home?

* If you do not work for yourself, what back-up support will your employer provide during a family emergency, such as your mother falling and breaking her hip?

* Are you willing to accept added responsibilities at work if you can fulfill them at home?

* Who can flex the most in an emergency, you or your partner?

Now, examine both sets of considerations together. What are your final conclusions after reviewing your first, gut response, along with your answers to the pragmatic questions?

Putting New Boundaries Into Play

Now is the ideal time to sort out how you will implement each new boundary. Here are some guidelines to consider:

* You and those close to you benefit by clarifying your roles before commitments are made. After you have weighed pros and cons, consult with everyone who will be affected. Encourage them to explore their areas of enthusiasm and misgiving on their own, and then to bridge back to you.

* Identify what conflicts might suddenly arise. This will help you weigh the implications of each boundary, and its long-range effect upon you.

* Developing contingency plans lessens the possibility of straining relations in the heat of the moment. It is always wise to write down your consensus. Provide everyone with a copy of what has been agreed to.

* Schedule regular times to review and revise your agreements as needed. Although some terms may not be negotiable, everyone benefits from updating commitments that are flexible. Such responsiveness helps maintain morale and ensure willing participation.

Are the results worth the effort of weighing and discussing each consideration? Certainly. Your reward is heightened productivity, improved communications and effective backup plans. Ultimately, your boundaries direct your energies and shape your life. Put these skills to work, and you will automatically maintain more positive control over your time.

What is your next step to create more effective boundaries, so that you can find more time?

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