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Separating Work and Life

I am a "doer".  It has been demonstrated time and time again that it is very difficult for me to stop working on projects, even when I know I need to take a break.  This blessing/curse has become exponentially more apparent now that I work from the comfort and confines of my own home, and Mr. Kawaii and I are constantly trying to find little ways to help me switch off at the end of the day.

Constantly being surrounded by work in my personal space makes it so easy to do "one more thing", remind me of a project that I wanted to get done today or give me ideas for new projects that I hadn't even thought of during my working hours.  Bits and pieces of our home business can be found in our home-office, our dining room, can be seen from the dining room and kitchen... all of the rooms that are most frequently used during the day for work and for rest.  It's as easy to get distracted by work when I'm checking my personal e-mail as it is to be distracted by it when making a sandwich.

A couple of things we have done are helping to keep my habit of continuous work in check though, and they are helping me to start paying attention to living life and taking a breather between projects.  Scheduling work-days with specific goals has helped a lot.  When I wake up in the morning I know exactly what needs to be accomplished during the day and once those goals are met I have permission to walk away from work.

The other new addition to our workspace was the installation of an OPEN / CLOSED sign that hangs above our desks.  When we're working, we flip the sign to Open and get to business.  At the end of the day, we switch the sign to Closed and shut down any work related programs on the computers or shut off the lights and leave the home office altogether.  It may seem silly to have a "We're Open" sign hanging in the house, but it is a great visual cue to help me remember when I'm off the clock.

U. S. Stamp & Sign Reversible Business "Open/Closed" Sign, with Suction Mount, 13 x 5 Inches (4246)

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