"I think that Build the Life You Want and Still Have Time to Enjoy It! would make a great gift for someone that you know who is overwhelmed by having a lack of time. It is also a great gift to give to oneself."

The Simple Life

The importance of family and friends often interrupts the concentration of people in an office. Email and cell phones with text messaging provide easy access to the busiest of people and some, feeling obligated will text back or email back even in the busiest of meetings. Members of a major consulting firm reported that even in important meetings you can see people text messaging or replying to email on their computers. Conference calls are particularly vulnerable to family interruptions because the person simply isn’t visible.

The main solution: implement boundaries. Some people find this hard because they feel anxiety or outright guilt about not responding immediately. It is not only doable, but fair. Small changes in attitude and organization will create huge differences.

Tips to manage work/life balance
It is critical to set boundaries as to when email and phone calls will be returned. Before the development of cell phones and instant messaging, it was much harder to interrupt.

• Turn off the email alert on your computer.
• Turn your cell phone to silent
• Plan time for checking email and calls in your schedule. Family and friends quickly adapt to this.
• Set aside a specific time for returning calls and emails to family. Set aside 5 minutes an hour. Others have been very successful planning much less over greater periods of time.

This works at home. Co-workers quickly learn to respect your home time, and your work and life will be restored to balance. You will also get less calls at work.