Key Tips for Separating Work & Home
Why is separating your work life and home life so critical to your well-being?
3 key reasons — increase productivity levels, improve your work-life balance, and reduce your chances of burnout
Higher productivity
Imagine exercising all day, every day, without rest—eventually, your body would collapse from exhaustion. The same principle applies to your mind. Without regular breaks during the day and clear boundaries between work and personal time, mental fatigue sets in, leading to decreased focus, creativity, and productivity.
Many people counter this claim with, “But I’m passionate about my work! I don’t want to stop. How can that be bad for me?” The reality is that even when we love what we do, working without pauses drains our energy and diminishes our effectiveness. When work and personal time blur together, we risk burnout, not sustained success.
This doesn’t mean you can’t work in the evenings after picking up your kids or put in a couple of hours on a Sunday. It simply means being intentional—treating work and rest as distinct, protected spaces. By fully unplugging when you step away, you allow yourself to recharge, making you more engaged, efficient, and fulfilled when you return.
Improved work-life balance
Maintaining a healthy work-life balance means ensuring that work doesn't drain all your time and energy—leaving ample room for rest, relationships, hobbies, and personal growth. A good balance is personal and unique; it's about finding what truly fulfills you. Ideally, this balance means setting clear boundaries, dedicating quality time to your personal life, and minimizing work-related stress after hours.
A healthy work-life balance doesn't just improve your quality of life outside of work—it also enhances your focus, memory, and decision-making during work hours, while reducing stress, promoting better sleep, and boosting engagement on the job.
Reduce chances of burnout
Workplace burnout can take a serious toll, affecting both mind and body. It can lead to difficulty concentrating, memory lapses, reduced problem-solving abilities, emotional exhaustion, and chronic stress. Physically, burnout increases the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, and a weakened immune system. And yes, burnout can happen even when you love your work—passion doesn’t make you immune to overwork. In fact, it may make you more susceptible.
While some stressors, like tight deadlines, overflowing inboxes, and challenging coworkers, may be out of our control, we do have influence over key factors that contribute to burnout. By setting boundaries, prioritizing recovery, and cultivating sustainable work habits, we can protect our well-being and long-term effectiveness. Check out these key signs of burnout and what to do if you’re experiencing them.
Two Key Strategies for Creating Separation between Work & Home
Create physical separation
Ensure you have a designated workspace for only work. This may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised by how many people work from their kitchen counter!
Close all of your tabs at the end of a workday. Our tabs can be reflective of our brains—projects, tasks, lists— all affecting us at once. When we start the day with our tabs still open, it’s common to already feel behind. Bring your top 5 critical to-do’s over to paper at the end of a day and start fresh in the morning.
“Shut Down” your computer or put in “Sleep” mode; physically shut your laptop
Remove your work email from your phone if possible
Set yourself “Away” on Teams or Slack
Close your home office door
Create mental separation
Define specific working hours and stick to them
Create a “fake commute.” Research suggests that commuting to a physical office can be really valuable for our mental health. It creates a cue for our brains to start working. Especially if you work fully remote, some “fake commutes” could be a mindful morning walk, going to the gym, or driving to get a coffee before the day begins.
Write your critical to-dos for the following day (ideally no more than 5); this pairs nicely with closing all of your tabs at the end of the workday (physical cue above).
Begin and end each day with a 1-minute meditation
Leverage work/life balance or boundary setting affirmations. Affirmations can be powerful in reducing stress, improving self-esteem and increasing resilience.
Additional Tips
Take short breaks throughout the workday (5-20 minutes) away from a screen; this is a recharge for your brain and can boost productivity and focus.
Make it a habit to not respond during non-working hours - it is likely you’ll need to communicate this change to coworkers and managers if you work in a culture where everyone is “on” at all hours. See here some helpful talk tracks for when this time comes.