Boundaries? What boundaries?

I’ve recently been seeing more and more notifications pop up on my phone with articles titled Burn out is real or America’s workers are exhausted and so on.

“Yeah right,” I initially thought to myself.

Last week, Intercom provided us a week off — a company-wide shutdown, which I was grateful for. This meant I didn’t have to respond to emails, put out any fires or simply have FOMO for not attending a team meeting. But I did find myself working a few hours throughout the week. I didn’t fully disconnect and guess what? I’m tired today.

Wow, I myself am contributing to this burnout trend. I preach work-life balance, but I am sitting here sending calendar invites and Slack messages when I should be taking this time to focus on myself. I had the biggest opportunity to really log off and re-energize. I didn’t take advantage of it.

And why is that? Honest answer — I lack boundaries.

Trying to find the balance between work and life during the pandemic has been a constant struggle for me — probably for a lot of us, and we don’t want to admit it. I easily find myself dabbling between both worlds, from doing laundry to attending a meeting to feeding my puppy to hopping into another meeting. The lines are too blurry, and I need to set boundaries.

With burn out on the rise, it’s important to acknowledge this and our wellbeing.

Here’s how I am creating boundaries for myself:

1. Calendar management— I have added blocks to my work calendar, which are dedicated to dog walks, eating lunch and working out. I also know what times I am the most alert for meetings and the best times to get work done. My favorite acronyms these days are “DNS” for do not schedule and “DNB” for do not book. If a meeting comes up over a block, I will take it case by case and will feel empowered to suggest another time to sync.
2. Accountability buddies — I have identified my husband and one of my colleagues to be my accountability partners. They will make sure I am closing my laptop and not responding to messages past a certain time. They are not there to shame me for constantly working but rather to challenge me to see if the work is needed to be done at that moment.

I will circle back in a few weeks to see how it’s going and how I’m doing!