We often bemoan the lack of work/life balance in play in most of our lives. But what are we doing to establish boundaries between those two places? And if the answer is “not a lot”, then can we be surprised when the two worlds blur, and with that blurring, comes conflict?
For a long while, I had two phones. Partly because I am a geek and I liked having the ability to explore both Android and iOS capabilities. But mostly because I liked being able to leave to switch my work phone off at the end of the day, and to put it in a drawer in my office at the weekend. It was just one way I tried to establish some boundaries between the work place and my home space. After years of doing this, I was able to consolidate down to just one phone now, but I still have dual SIMs with different numbers. And, at the end of the day, I switch focus mode, and that changes what notifications I receive and which apps I access. At the weekend, I have a shortcut that runs and disables my work number automatically.
Again - small actions, but ones that have a large impact on my mental frame of reference. The idea of "I'm at home now" became even more important during the pandemic when working from home and being present at home were physically very similar.