We live in a fast-paced society. It is a balancing act to keep up all of the activities and not go overboard and create stress. The hours that we work keep creeping up. You may still be able to keep the hours at the office to 50 hours or less, but have you really added up all of the time that your mind is on work during your “off” hours. With the advances in the cell phone industry, we are working more than ever outside of our regular work schedule.
The cell phone sounds its annoying tone saying you have another e-mail. Years ago, you would not realize that an email had come in or even care. Now we feel obligated to read it. Once you read it, you might as well act on it, right? Your customers should understand that you need “down time”. Why do you feel obligated to act on requests 24 hours a day?
You should be able to ignore the e-mails in the evenings. Rarely is it ever anything that just has to be taken care of. Not everyone works daytime hours, so there can be e-mails coming in during the evening. These people are probably answering some of the e-mails that you sent during your normal shift.
I know that you have witnessed individuals that answer their phones when they are in the rest room. Why can’t they draw the line on when to ignore the ringing of the phone? They are out of balance. These are the people that live with continuing stress levels. You need to be able to “turn off” work.
I know that it would be hard to go from never ignoring the phone and the e-mails to being completely off work when out of the office. Start with baby steps. It may start with leaving the phone in your car when you go out to dinner with your family. That way, there is no way that you can be tempted to sneak a peek at it under the table. If you are that addicted, you can look at it after dinner. Enjoy the time with your family and give them your attention. It will do wonders for your stress level, and you do not get the opportunity to relive these moments with your family. It is unfair to them to not have your full attention.
Share with me what you are planning on doing to get your life in balance. We can all learn from one another. What do you do to make sure that you have time for yourself and not just taking care of the needs of others?
