Shall we talk about the importance of setting boundaries? Boundaries contribute to productivity, less stress, and setting a precedence for those who you interact with to name a few.
What happens when we make ourselves available for all the things is our work gets put on hold. It doesn’t disappear though, right? We still have to find blocks of time when we can come back to it. When we’re just finding little tidbits of time here and there there’s a good chance we sorely lack the ability to get focused on our work and along the way we lose efficiency. Read- we are much less productive.
I’ve heard too many stories about the way that people cross what should be recognized as boundaries without us previously calling out what those boundaries are. I recently heard about a small business owner who was stressed because he didn’t have enough time in his day. It came to light that one of the things he was doing was picking up his mom’s laundry and taking it to the dry cleaner…during work hours. First we can certainly take a moment to applaud what a sweet, dedicated son this man is. BUT…those are tasks that could happen outside work hours.
If you are a stay-at-home mom or work-from-home mom, you may relate to this gentleman’s story. Just because we are at home does not mean we are available for all sorts of things, friends. If we want others to respect our schedules and us as individuals, it is important that we first respect those things ourselves. One of the ways that we do that is establishing those boundaries.
Boundaries will look different for each of us, but a few keys things that we can share are:
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Those those who are building a business- Establishing set work hours. It doesn’t matter what those work hours are. That’s the beauty of being an entrepreneur. You have the flexibility to make your schedule work for you. You do need to set them though.
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Now that you’ve established your schedule, share it with those who are most likely to reach out to you or ask something of you during those hours. Let them know that within those hours you are unavailable for anything but emergencies.
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Don’t take phone calls, emails, or text messages that aren’t work related during business hours. If that is too limiting, do those things during breaks you schedule into your day.
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Boundaries may need to be established with clients as well. We talked about keeping others requests of you outside of business hours, but you may also need to establish with a client that their interactions need to stay within business hours.
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For those whose job is staying at home with your children, that’s still some very hard work. You have the right to say no when your plate is already full. You can put the same types of boundaries into place. Maybe you tell your significant other or a parent who relies on you, you can run errands for them only on Fridays or only after 3pm each day. Whatever that looks like for you, there’s no shame.
Boundaries are not just to keep others in line, they can be established for your own well being too.
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Just say no to social media during the day when you have things to accomplish. I promise you there is some kind of magic time warp that occurs when you open up your social media app.
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Build in rest. Yes, this is a boundary set for you by you. Burnout is real, but if you are proactive about your self-care and you make room for rest, you’re already ahead of the game.
Listen, if you remain available for all things all of the time and this works for you, then who am I to rain on your parade? If you find that you are struggling with setting up a schedule that works for you, making the most out of your day, constant interruptions, setting priorities, or anything else work related, I kindly suggest that you consider where you can implement boundaries around your day.
P.S. There’s no reason setting boundaries has to start and stop with your work day. 🙂
If you are still struggling with wrapping your mind around setting boundaries, I’d love to work with you through 1 on 1 coaching. Reach out here for a complimentary consultation call.
P.P.S. Have you signed up for my 21-day challenge yet? Start your free 21-day whole-self-care challenge