It never surprises me when I meet someone who blurs the boundary lines in multiple areas of their lives 
because it happens so naturally, especially if you have a home office.
Do you schedule specific time to dedicate to yourself or your family? What I’m finding is that most of us have given priority to work over self and family. Mainly with our time, if something is calendared for ourselves or our family we allow work to interrupt that time where we rarely allow the reverse to happen.
Boundaries are not walls, more like fences that can be moved when necessary. When I work with clients who struggle with work spilling over from their home office to the rest of the house I try to encourage them to really think about the efficiency and mental clutter it can create, not to mention the animosity or resentment from others in the home. By maintaining our work within the designated time and place it can serve to provide clarity and produce results at a more efficient pace.
An area where the tendency to constantly move the fence is with our clients, bosses or employees – where we haven’t set clear boundary lines in the beginning and now it comes back to haunt us. Set working hours and stick to them as often as possible, sure you’re going to have instances where a particular project will push that, but that should be a rare occurrence. If the traditional weekend day is a more efficient time for you then switch a weekday out for yourself and/or your family. Managing your time to your needs rather than others will help you to maintain the boundary lines.
We need boundaries in our lives to build healthy relationships with our businesses, families, friends and ourselves with as little chaos and stress as we can control. Boundaries create trust and respect around all these areas and are crucial to our success in each of them.
Bibi,
Great article. I recently blogged about this topic as well. It seems that when people don’t set their own clear boundaries they are often “offended” or “uncomfortable” with those of us who do. Have you found that as well? Boundaries and systems are VITAL maintaining sanity and making time for both business and pleasure. Boundaries are also an indication that we’re treating our business l like a business and not like a hobby.
Write on!~
Lisa Manyon
My husband and I were just having this discussion last night pertaining to my productivity or diminished productivity because my boundaries are blurred and I am trying to juggle multiple things at once instead of dedicating specific time frames.