How to Stop Bringing Work Home and Maintain Boundaries

Setting Boundaries to Keep Work at the Office

With remote work becoming more common, it can be challenging to establish boundaries between your professional and personal lives. When your home is your office, it's easy for work to bleed into evenings, weekends, and beyond scheduled hours. This can quickly lead to burnout.

While some overtime here and there may be unavoidable, regularly allowing work responsibilities to overtake your home life is unsustainable. Setting clear divides between work time and personal time is essential for your mental health and work-life balance.

With some planning and self-discipline, you can keep work confined to designated work hours. Here are tips for not bringing work home and maintaining your sanity.

Be Clear on Your Hours

A major advantage of remote work is having flexibility. But with no office to leave at a set time each day, boundaries can easily become blurred. That's why defining your exact working hours and sticking to them is key.

Look at your job requirements and determine your set schedule, such as 9-5 Monday through Friday. Communicate these hours clearly to your manager, teammates, and clients so everyone is on the same page. Include your working hours in your email signatures and calendar settings as well.

Treat your predetermined hours as set appointments that can't be moved or interrupted. This includes not answering emails or taking calls outside those blocks. Maintain this consistency, even if others on your team work different hours.

Create a Dedicated Home Workspace

Having a designated work area in your home separates it from the rest of your personal space, reinforcing work/life divisions. This could be a spare room, basement, or corner of the house specifically for your job. If possible, avoid using your bedroom or other living spaces.

Make your workspace strictly professional. Decorate it practically, with office furniture and equipment. Don't use it for storage or personal activities. At the end of each workday, shut the door on your office, literally and mentally.

Commuting from another room helps put you in work mode when it's time to start your day. And leaving it behind signals you're off the clock. Keeping work visually apart from living areas makes it easier to disconnect.

Get Ready to Start and End Your Day

Establish set rituals for the beginning and end of each workday. This transitions you in and out of work mode.

In the morning, change out of loungewear, make a coffee, listen to energizing music, or take a quick walk to shift your mindset before starting work. In the evening, switch into comfy clothes, make an after-work snack, or decompress with self-care activities to punctuate your day's end.

Having these consistent bookends prevents work from seeping into mornings before you start and nights after you sign off. And avoid mixing work clothes with off-duty wardrobe, which blurs lines.

Keep Devices for Work Only

Don't use your personal phone, tablet, or computer for work tasks. Maintain separate devices dedicated solely to your job. At day's end, shut down your work laptop, power off work phones, and store them out of sight.

Only use your personal devices for actual downtime, not anything related to your job. This trains your brain that once your work gadgets are put away, that means work time is over.

Never check work accounts like email on your personal devices off-hours. Seeing work pop up makes it hard not to engage.

Set Status Signifiers on Communication Tools

Take advantage of status indicators on work programs like Slack, Teams, and Google Chat to demonstrate when you're working versus off duty.

Mark yourself as "away" or set an out of office message at day's end. Disable notifications outside work hours as well. Make co-workers aware of when you have notifications silenced.

Using statuses demonstrates when you're unavailable versus open for communication. And it prevents you from getting drawn into conversations at all hours when you're trying to unplug.

Manage Expectations and Boundaries

If you have perfectionist tendencies or people-pleasing habits, you may feel pressured to overwork yourself to show commitment and go above and beyond. But this quickly leads to burnout.

Give yourself permission to complete assignments on a reasonable schedule, then step away. Be honest if your workload exceeds what you can finish during regular hours.

Set realistic deadlines that don't require overtime. And don't apologize if you aren't available nights and weekends. Your personal life is just as valuable as your professional obligations.

Avoid Working from Bed

It may be tempting to knock out a few emails from bed on weekend mornings or unwind with late night work in your PJs. But mixing work tasks with what should be restful space reinforces bad habits.

Keep your bedroom a work-free zone exclusively for relaxation and rejuvenation. Your brain needs this cue to shift into offline mode.

If you must work odd hours occasionally, do it in your designated office area, not your sleep space. Maintaining this separation is essential for quality rest.

Schedule Breaks

Don't attempt to power through long work blocks without coming up for air. Make sure to take regular timed breaks to refresh.

Schedule short pauses at least every two hours to stand up, stretch, grab a snack, and clear your headspace. Go outside if possible for a quick walk or some deep breaths.

Factor in a longer break for lunch every day, free of work. Eat away from your workspace. These mental recharges will boost your focus when it's time to get back on task.

Observe Regular Working Days

A trap of remote work is feeling like you should be accessible at all hours since you're home. But be disciplined about sticking to a Monday-Friday schedule.

Log off at the end of each weekday and don't log back on until the next working day. Being online sporadically on nights and weekends erodes separation between being on and off the clock.

Honor weekends and time after hours as sacred personal time to focus 100% on non-work activities. This protects your downtime.

Build in Buffer Time Before and After Work

A common issue is feeling stressed first thing in the morning and unable to unwind in the evenings since work starts and ends abruptly. Build in buffer time on either side of your workday for easier transitions.

Wake up earlier than your start time to ease into your day, then actually begin work later. In the evenings, wrap up slightly earlier than quitting time to gradually decompress.

This padding eases you into and out of work mode versus jarring shifts. It reduces anxiety around jumping into work or feeling pressured to immediately redirect your attention at day's end.

Have Designated Tech-Free Time

Purposefully block off evenings or weekends where you completely abstain from screens and digital devices, work or personal. This could be a few hours or a full day.

Power everything down and direct your attention elsewhere. Go outside, spend time with family and friends offline, engage in hobbies, or relax. This forces you to disconnect and be fully present.

Regular device-free time ensures you don't stay chained to technology in all your waking hours. The contrast keeps work from bleeding into all aspects of life.

Prioritize Disconnecting with Loved Ones

Make time every evening and weekends to engage with family and friends, free of distractions. Set aside work talk and give loved ones your full, undivided attention.

Chat, cook and eat together, play games, get out of the house and do activities, catch up on shows, or volunteer together in your community. Don't let work interrupt bonding time.

Nurturing these relationships and enjoying downtime together keeps your focus on what matters most, not work. This motivates you to maintain boundaries.

Reflect on Values, Goals, and Passions

When not working, devote time to activities related to your core values, life goals, and passions that get neglected due to your job.

Reflect on what's most important to you as a person beyond work. Think about long-term goals for your health, relationships, personal growth, hobbies, and making a difference.

Then actively spend time every day nurturing these intrinsic motivators. Keeping your broader purpose and priorities front and center prevents getting overly consumed by work.

Learn to Let Go of the Need for Control

You may stay connected off-hours because you feel anxious about losing control over work matters. But monitoring emails into the night won't change outcomes.

Practice trusting that things will be okay without your constant oversight. Remind yourself everyone is responsible for their work.

Loosening the reins prevents obsessive worrying and constant connectivity. Tell yourself work will still be there tomorrow.

Keep a Consistent Morning Routine

Establish a set morning routine you follow before diving into work each day. This transitions you into a focused headspace.

Wake up at the same time, follow your routine of getting ready, eat a solid breakfast, take a walk, listen to a podcast, drink some tea, do morning pages journaling, or meditate. These habits ground you pre-work.

Avoid skipping them to immediately start working. This ritual Me time eases you into work mode with intention, instead of a disorienting start.

Have an After Work Wind Down Routine

To prevent preoccupied evenings, develop a go-to wind down routine post work for a clear cutoff. This shifts your mindset away from professional concerns.

Change clothes, go for a walk, listen to music, tidy up, enjoy a hobby, take a relaxing bath or read - choose a way to regularly unwind before dinner and evening activities with household members.

This routine tells your brain it's time to relax. It prevents dragging work stress into the rest of your day. And it transitions you into present personal time.

Signs You Need Stronger Work-Life Boundaries

If work constantly creeps into nights, weekends, and time off, your work-life balance may be off-kilter. Look for these warning signs that you need to set firmer boundaries:

• You feel anxious, stressed, or guilty about not working after hours or on days off
• You regularly receive calls or emails from co-workers outside typical working hours
• You have trouble relaxing in the evenings because work concerns keep popping up
• Friends and family complain you are distracted by work when spending time together
• You frequently work nights and weekends or cancel personal plans due to work tasks
• You are exhausted, irritable, and lacking motivation due to not taking real breaks

Ongoing overwhelm and the inability to detach from work point to your boundaries being too porous. Don't wait until burnout sets in. Take steps now to create separation for your own well-being.

Tips for Sticking to Healthy Boundaries Long-Term

With practice, keeping work restricted to working hours can become habitual. Here are some tips for maintaining boundaries for the long haul:

• Block off time on your calendar for important personal activities so they take priority
• Practice leaving emails unread and notifications unattended to outside work time
• Plan regular weekend trips or outings so you detach from home and devices
• Acknowledge when you've had an especially heavy week and take an extra day off
• Discuss any concerns about burnout, workload, or time pressure with your manager
• Stick to time off fully rather than a "working vacation" to avoid sending mixed signals
• Set automatic out of office replies when you take vacations or days off

Keep refining your approach until you find what works best. The more consistently you reinforce boundaries, the more second nature it becomes. With practice, you can successfully safeguard personal time.

Learning not to bring work home with you is a process. But establishing clear divides benefits your productivity, mental health, relationships, and overall well-being. With some self-discipline and smart tactics, you can contain your work obligations within set hours and prevent burnout. Keep at it until work no longer bleeds into nights, weekends, and time meant for your personal life. Your mind and body will thank you.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare professional before starting any new treatment regimen.