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work-life balance

Workplace Etiquette Part 2: 3 Reasons Why You Should Probably Keep Your Work And Personal Life Separate

In this second article in the workplace etiquette series, we will list the reasons why you should try and keep your work life and your personal life separate. As previous;y mentioned in last week’s article it is commendable to at least interact and if comfortable socialise with coworkers. It is also commendable to find and whenever possible maintain a balance between your work and personal life. Some people work the entire week and weekend and dedicate little time to resting and unwinding. While it is imperative especially when projects, companies and businesses are still in their infancy, to dedicate more time to your work, sometimes it becomes addictive till one cannot separate their work from their personal life.

The major problem with burning the candle on both ends even when one is working on something that is in its formative stage is:

  • You will compromise the quality of your work sometimes because hate it or love it, the mind does not work too well if subjected to too much pressure.
  • You will have a hard time concentrating on some things and you will be easily distracted
  • You might not be that productive
  • Your energy will not be at the optimum level

So sometimes it’s better for you to leave your workplace and not carry your work home or work 7 days a week, or never take a day off the entire year because,

  1. Too much work will eventually take a toll on your body and you might achieve professional success but you might not be able to enjoy the fruits of your labour because you are not physically fit to run around like you used to.
  2. Working too hard and not taking enough rest does not necessarily translate to increased productivity and efficiency. If we all knew that in some cases, we need to work smarter and not harder, or in most cases working more and more doesn’t increase productivity because sometimes we increase our chances of a burnout which will set us back a few steps.
  3. You will probably miss out on special moments at home or you will be absent when special occurrences do occur. There are people that were not there when special eventualities happened. When their children were born, or graduated or took their first steps. When their family member passed away, when their family member got married etc. Yes, technology can help us now to catch up with these special occasions, however, lost time can never be regained and being there virtually will never substitute being there physically.

Well other writers on the subject of workplace etiquette, suggest how one can start the process of separating one’s work from their personal life. According to Forbes in order to separate your life from your work, you have to do the following :

  • Set boundaries – always set boundaries when trying to establish the work-life balance and never cross them or waiver from them.
  • Take a stand – stand your ground when the requests to work extra become too frequent and start encroaching onto your private life frequently
  • Find and offer solutions – if the problem persists, you should try and find a solution that will make life for your coworkers easy.