Setting Boundaries

If you are wanting to maintain control of your mental, emotional and physical well-being when working from home, then setting boundaries is essential.

Boundaries include what you are willing and not willing to accept into your life.

These are, more specifically:

Time boundaries

Ensuring that you are clear on when your working day begins and ends, and what break times you have set aside for yourself. While many worry about having the self discipline to maintain focus on work when working from home, one of the biggest challenges is actually ensuring that you don’t allow your work to overwhelm your home and home time.

Environmental boundaries

For example, setting up a physical work space at home.

Physical boundaries

People popping in or calling you. Ensuring that they realise that you working from home is the same as you working from your office. They wouldn’t just pop into see you if you were in an office building, for example.

Mental boundaries

How are you going to manage your stress? For example, what will you do throughout the day to ensure that you are able to allow yourself time to prepare for and unwind from the working day.

Emotional boundaries

What will you put in place to help maintain a positive, proactive and focused emotional state?

Personal boundaries

What do you need to control? Are you going to give yourself unfettered access to the fridge, or are you going to set limitations? Are you going to promise yourself that you’ll do some physical activity throughout the day but let yourself down?

Setting boundaries is a personal choice and we all have differing boundaries regarding what we will and will not accept and tolerate, and what we expect of ourselves and others.

When we have clear boundaries, we set the scene for ourselves and for others which outlines how we are willing to spend our time, what lengths we are willing to go to and what level of treatment we expect from ourselves and others.

Setting boundaries comes naturally for some and for others it can take guts to gain the confidence and assertiveness to establish clear boundaries that value and respect you and your time.

When working from home, it’s important to set clear boundaries in the areas outlined above with yourself, with your management team, with colleagues and with friends and family members.

Setting boundaries with and for yourself will involve you in being clear on how you’d like your day to play out, and how you would like to ensure that you are able to look after your emotional, mental and physical well-being while working from home.