Have you noticed how hard it is to leave work at a decent hour when there is an unfinished task! If you are passionate for work and your craft, you would feel that you wouldn’t be able to rest well knowing that something is not finished.

Girl bosses even find it harder to set a cut off time for themselves because they are running the show. Maybe, it’s because they feel accountable to themselves, even when they are the boss themselves.  Consequently, they find harder to know when to wind up their work day.

It’s not just about women working somewhere!  Even working moms, working from home moms and students working part-time find it harder to create a sane routine and work-life balance. Deadlines and urgenciesappear to rule their lives and thoughts. That’s why they are unable to leave work behind. 

Here are a few reasons why many women find it hard to switch off from work:

Perfectionism

Many of us don’t want to just finish tasks and get it over, we want perfection in every aspect and the core of a project and in everything that we do, even chores and home tasks. We love to pick through imperfections, poke holes in our own work. We try to do things over and over, just to make them look perfect! This need for perfection often translates itself in late sittings, working round the clock and sleepless nights.

Hard Work Versus Smart Work

There is a difference in terms of when we not to just get things done versus when we need to really do them well! It’s the difference between hard work and smart work! Most of times, we are not able to distinguish what kind of effort we need to put into things, as a result we try to work harder than what’s needed! Thus, we try to put our best forward all the time, even when it’s not expected! Consequently, we let smaller tasks stretch out into bigger ones.We try to go the extra mile, even when it’s not needed! We end up over- exerting and over-delivering!  

The Inner Critic

We are not really answerable to others, other bosses, teammates, our spouses, friends, and in-laws; yet we think that we are! We think that people are expecting the best from us all the time! In reality, it’s our inner critic that we try to please all the time. We are our own worst critics.

Here is What Matters (and What Doesn’t!)

Whether it is a task, a project, your work or day at home, it’s the satisfaction that comes from something accomplished that matters! However, pushing ourselves needlessly hard in the pursuit of perfectionism and praise is a self-defeating quest!

The Tyranny of Digital Lifestyle
How many a times you find yourself being back at home after a hard day at work, and yet you are checking your phone, your email or browsing TV after dinner?
The downside of technology is that we are unable to switch ourselves off from work and life! Due to smartphones and messaging apps, people expect us to be available and “switched on” all the time. Your boss or teammate wants an update! A friend or family member wants your opinion on something quickly! If that are not the case, you feel compelled to check out social media or search out something online! Before you know it, a good chunk of your day simply gone!    

Here are 4 advantages of setting a decent cutoff time:

Maximize Your Time

Time is one of our biggest assets after health and money! The great thing is that all of us have it in an equal amount! What you make out of the 24 hours given to you, given to you, is what matters! The ability to manage your time well helps you get the most out of your day, whether you are home or at work. Our ability to manage time smartly is what creates positive outcomes in our lives.

You Need to Create Time for ‘You’

Sometimes we finish something because we need to move on to another task or because the partner, the family is waiting for us at home, or we have to attend to our kids’ or needs or our pets’! But we should realize that we need that time for ourselves! We need to free up our time, so that we can connect with our inner selves! We need time and space so we can rest, relax, do something we like, such as reading, doing yoga or going out for a walk!

Create a Work Life Balance

Our lives, the way we do work and how we relax, everything needs balance. There are always tasks, deadlines, something immediate needing our attention! It’s very easy to let the urgencies take over our lives. No wonder why we feel so overwhelmed at times! But we need to establish clear boundaries between our work and our personal lives.

Switch Off

It’s not just work! You need to learn to switch off from your gadgets after a certain time in the evening to give your mind a break from work and compulsions! Make it a rule to stop checking and responding to emails and text messages once you are home or before dinner. Stop browsing the social media or watching TV. Put your laptop and phone away! Instead, try to talk to your partner and kids, read up, listen to some relaxing music, have a cup of green tea!

Pick and Choose

There are times when we have a hard task deciding what to finish first or to take it forward to the next day! There would be instances that we create a deadline or urgency ourselves because we don’t like something sitting on our work desk or a chore left undone.  While this attitude can help us be very productive, it can be tiring and unnerving as well. Therefore, there is a need to choose our battles everyday wisely! Sometimes, it’s ok to leave something that day and come back to it with renewed energy and focus! You may even discover yourself being more productive or doing a much better job the next day!

To Sum Up

We often let personal and professional deadlines run our lives because we want to be productive and useful. But it’s very busy going overboard in our zealousness and drive ourselves to the point of exhaustion. As a result, people have a hard time switching off from work, letting go off chores, and in short, set and follow a decent cutoff and switch off time. That’s why most of us feel more exhausted and unfulfilled in our personal and professional lives.  It is absolutely important to have a sense of balance in how we live and we work.