Problems for not separating Private Life and Professional Life

Today it is extremely difficult to separate work life from personal life. Digital media have ensured that we are in constant communication with both environments and therefore dividing them is not an easy task. Going a step further, teleworking, which is the order of the day, has not helped in this since, since it occurs in the same home, it has managed to merge both lives even more.

As Christena Nipper-Eng, a sociologist and professor at Indiana University, commented, there are two types of people: integrators and segmenters. The first group brings work home, sends work emails during their free time, discusses related matters By working with your partners, you leave your inbox open in a browser tab and work from a single device. Instead, the seconds establish clear boundaries between the office and home, avoid checking the inbox after a certain hour, turn off the notifications on work devices at night, spend part of the day on meetings and calls, and use a phone or laptop independent.

Now, we have always heard that we should try to put work problems aside when we get home. In fact, it is common to hear comments about the importance of

separate professional and personal life, but why? What problems does it bring with it not knowing how to distance one life from the other? Stay to find out the answer to this question since, in today's article, we will focus on the consequences of not setting limits and ending up merging both areas.

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Why is it important to keep professional and personal lives separate?

In recent years, the effects of a lack of balance between work and personal life on our stress levels have been increasing to such an extent that they are evident. In addition, to this we must add the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced us to mix our personal and professional lives more than ever. Since then, Maintaining a healthy balance between the two is a challenge that is essential for our physical and mental health.. Therefore, below we list some of the problems that this situation entails:

1. decreased productivity

Not maintaining an adequate balance between personal and work life does not help when it comes to focusing on doing what you must do. Being at home pending work things causes communication to decrease, conflicts to become more and more common and, in general, the family climate worsens.

The same thing happens the other way around. Being in working hours pending family matters decreases productivity and this can lead to serious consequences. We must be able to set limits and be where we have to be at all times. It is important to understand that we cannot be on a thousand things at the same time since we end up not doing any of them correctly.

• You may be interested in: "What is conscious productivity and how it helps to reduce work stress"

2. more stress

Stress and burnout are two of the most common health problems linked to today's mix of work and family. Those people who manage to separate their personal and work lives are aware of work schedules established and are able to create a boundary between office responsibilities and the rest of the day. This significantly helps combat the stress that flourishes when trying to lead both lives together.

3. worse health

The inadequate balance between professional and personal life gives less control over schedules and therefore, find free moments to exercise, meditate, plan meals and do what you like it is extremely complicated. At the end of the day, devoting time in your day to physical activity and, in turn, having the discipline of planning daily tasks around your personal life brings significant benefits to your health, happiness and welfare.

Also, when you are able to respect the boundary between the office and the family, you find the time and space necessary to share with your closest environment, work on personal projects and take care of the tasks of the home. This also improves health holistically.

• Related article: "10 psychologically healthy daily habits, and how to apply them to your life"

How to separate professional life from personal?

You may have realized the positive side of separating professional and personal life, however, it is not always easy and you may not know how to do it. According to the experts, it depends largely on the personality of the person and if they identify more with the category of integrators or segmenters mentioned at the beginning. However, we can always do our part to try to separate these areas and thus take advantage of their benefits. Therefore, here are some tips for it:

1. Keep track of how you allocate your time

Make an effort for a week or two to take note of how you spend each hour of the day, either working, socializing or doing what you like the most. This is extremely important since in order to reach the right balance between professional and personal life, the first step is to know what the current situation is.

2. Your devices are a reason not to achieve the division between both lives

To do this, create separate user accounts for work and personal life. This prevents notifications and work reminders from interrupting your free time and also helps reduce distractions, allowing you to stay focused throughout the day.

3. Too many unproductive meetings lengthen the working day

It is recommended reduce the length and frequency of meetings so you can finish tasks and enjoy other areas of your life. Analyze with your coworkers the number of meetings you have a week and together, find ways to solve it.

4. Communicate

Communicate your situation to trusted co-workers and let your colleagues know what your availability is so that they avoid sending or responding to non-urgent emails outside of business hours. Remember that these are almost always issues that can wait.