When 5 becomes 7... How did that happen?

Something occurred to me last weekend, I thought important to share, as I expect it is happening to many of you in a time of work from home. Your work week and weekend can very easily blur into one.

There is nothing wrong with mixing it up a bit and doing a little work on the weekend However I realised last Saturday, that no day was different from the next. This has quietly snuck up on me over the past few months, becoming the new (and not very healthy) normal.

Once it registered, I quickly shut down my computer and spent the rest of my weekend doing things I love to do, not involving business or work. I felt so good Sunday night and started my day Monday refreshed and ready to take on the week.

We are connected 24/7, with many different schools of thought on achieving work/life balance. You should not have to miss out on one to achieve the other. It is all about finding that elusive balance, whether you are working full-time, part-time or studying. Easier said than done I know!

As much as work is something you love and important to you, you have to break from it. Research has shown that your mind is not as effective or clear when you push through and in fact you will perform better after taking breaks. You know when you have been sitting there re-reading the same page over and over, or working on something that should be easy and you get stuck? We push ourselves so hard.

Many things that we really enjoy on the weekend have been recently taken from us for a while. So you wake up on a Saturday morning – then what? If you don’t have any other hobbies or interests, the easiest thing to do (other than binge on Netflix) is continue with your work.

Explore new things, learn something new – a language, origami, paint or pop on some music and cook up a storm! Read a novel that you can lose hours in.

It doesn’t matter what it is, you mind and soul will be grateful. We all have a little creativity in us – explore it and have some fun.

The impact of your work overflow into the weekend, on your team is also not to be underestimated. If they are seeing emails pouring through over the weekend, there will be an assumption from some that you are also expecting them to be reading or responding.

If you really must spend time working on the odd weekend, unless it is something so critical that can't wait, work offline and then reconnect so they flow through on Monday.

So if your 5 has crept up to 7 – do something about it now before it becomes your new normal.

Until next time

Lisa