Tag: boundaries

Burnout and Boundaries (3-1-21)

I kind of hit a wall last week, so I spent the weekend recharging.  This led to some reflections I want to share with you.

  1. There are different types of rest- The 7 types of rest that every person needs | (ted.com).  This weekend was all about mental, sensory, and creative rest.  I completely unplugged, hung out outside, and spent most of the time reading and blogging.  It was the recharge I needed.  Make sure you’re filling your bucket.
  • Setting boundaries for yourself- Speaking of burnout, it’s important we set boundaries for ourselves.  Here’s something I do.  Whenever I have a new colleague I’m working with I get to know them and then we spend time discussing working styles.  I always talk about how my family time is sacred, so I do what I can to avoid being on my computer at night.  This means they won’t see stuff from me at night and shouldn’t expect to.  Of course there will be times when it’s all hands on deck and everyone is putting in extra hours, but that shouldn’t be all the time.  If it is, something is wrong.  Priorities aren’t clear, expectations are unrealistic, or you’re not clear on what your boundaries are.
  • Setting expectations for others- While we set our own boundaries, it’s important to set and reinforce expectations for others.  A vendor sent me an email on Sunday and said, “I’ll be standing by all day if you have questions.”  This morning I sent him back the below message to clarify my expectations, because I don’t expect or need him to work all weekend for me.  
    • I appreciate you saying in your email that you’d be standing by on Sunday to answer questions if needed.  I want you to know that I do NOT expect you to be on call for us over the weekend.  You’re not some random vendor to me, you’re a teammate.  When it gets close to crunch time, we will all be working long hours, but until then I want you and all my other teammates to spend time unplugging, refueling, and spending time with friends/family/important people in your life.  In fact, if there is ever anything I can do to help alleviate any work burden you might have on the weekend please let me know.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry