Ugh. Here it is the weekend and I am spun up. I check my text messages and my emails just about every hour on the hour. I think more about what I have to do when I return to work on Monday than I do about how much fun it would be to take a hike, play a game, sit and chat with some friends. When I lay down to sleep at night: what ruminates in my thoughts is what is pending on my desk or project at work, or how I interacted at the last meeting and what my boss or colleagues likely thought about me as a result.
Here’s the challenge: Take note… Keep track of the amount of time when you are not at work; evenings and weekends (hopefully) of how much time you spend talking, thinking, or doing for your job. Really keep track, don’t best guess it. That will not be accurate. Every time you find yourself wrapped in the job in any way, record it and the amount of time you have given it. Then you will know. If you spend more than 10% of your “away from work” time kidnapped by it, your balance is off. The farther away from 10% it is, the more dramatic the imbalance.
Oh, btw, your “at work” time baseline cannot be more than 45 hours per week. So include any overtime hours, home or office, in that 10% ++++. Prepare to be enlightened.