When Personal Bleeds into Business: How to Separate Yourself
A lot of people have heard the phrase, “Leave your personal business at home”, but sometimes it is easier said than done. Separating personal issues from your professional life is not as easy as turning off a switch in your brain. It is, however, ideal to use tactics to help you stay focused on your job and vow to deal with work distractions outside of the workplace. Things like family tragedies and emergencies may occur while you are at work, in which it is a good time to speak with the supervisor about leaving for the day.
Regroup Before Starting Work
If you are still dealing with an issue from the previous day, don’t take it to work with you if you can help it. Take some time in the morning, just to yourself, and collect your thoughts. Meditate, take a walk or write down your feelings on paper. Create an upbeat playlist for your commute into work to help change your mindset.
It is important to make sure you have a level head before walking through the doors at work. If this means that you have to arrive a little early and just sit in your car to plan the day, go ahead and take those few minutes. Your performance at work cannot suffer from personal trials and tribulations.
Consider using Paid Time Off
If your employer offers paid time off (PTO) and you have a personal issue that can’t be shaken easily, use enough PTO to cover you for the day. The only thing that your employer needs to know is that you need to handle an urgent family matter. Your employer will respect you more for realizing that you are not focused on your job and do not want to underperform or make mistakes from trying to focus.
Stay Busy and Remove Distractions
Keep yourself busy at work and remove any distractions from your personal workspace. Not having reminders of your troubles available will help you keep your personal life separate from your professional life. Focus on the tasks at hand.
It can be distracting to work around those that are constantly negative or complaining about their own lives. This is a toxic work situation that you should likely not subject yourself to when you are having personal struggles of your own. Remove yourself from the work area if possible, or consider working from home to avoid toxicity.
Ask to Work Remotely
If you have a job that really can be done from anywhere, consider asking the boss to work off-site for a day or two. A change in environment that is not associated with either your personal or professional life may be best.
The CEO of Your Company Formations believes, “You can maintain productivity while working in a quiet, remote setting to regain focus and meet goals. Rentable office and meeting spaces are ideal solutions for a temporary office space.”
A change in environment with no attachment to your personal life will help you train your brain, at least for the day, to focus on your job duties.
No Casual Facebook Chats
Stay off of Facebook and other social media platforms while at work. Those that know some of the details of your personal issues may wish to chat with you about it while you are at work. Not only is this distracting, it can cause you to lose your mindset and be unable to focus.
Turn the Cell Phone Off
Turn your cell phone off except on break. If you are not seeing your phone light up with message notifications, you are more likely to not think about your personal struggles and can concentrate on performing your job duties well. When you allow outside, personal distractions to come to work with you, it can consume the entire day, leaving you with unfinished work. Your cell phone, and being connected to those that may be part of the issue is not the best idea.
Final Thoughts
Separating personal troubles from your professional life takes a bit of work. You may even start off the day fine and speak to someone on break that reminds you of your personal troubles. It helps to have co-workers that do not know you outside of work to have a conversation with about work-related topics. It will help you keep your mind on work.
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