Managing the Pressure to Work
There are a lot of great things about working remotely. I’ve been working from home since 2012, and I never plan to return to an in-person office work environment. When companies shifted to remote work at the start of the pandemic, lots of people got to experience first hand how working from home can enhance their lives by giving them greater flexibility.
But it’s not all sunshine and rainbows.
On the flip side, the lines between work life and home life blur when the office is a 15 second walk from the bedroom. There is no built-in commuting time, signaling the start and end of a work day. The work days gets longer and more drawn out.
Some people are early risers or night owls, and will work during “off hours.” It’s not because they love to work, but because it's quiet and allows for focus time, which is hard to come by when everyone is online.
When you are working on a solo project that doesn’t require communication, working at whatever time is best for you only impacts you. But when you are working during non-business hours, and sending emails to others, it’s important to pause and think about how that impacts those you are working with.
For you, sending that email after hours may not mean anything at all. It’s not something you expect anyone to respond to right away. You are simply checking off tasks on your to-do list. But that’s not how everyone experiences it.
Not everyone has a good sense of when to work and when to rest. Receiving an email after hours can cause an internal conflict about whether to log on and respond. The receiver may struggle to hold a boundary about the hours they work. They might feel like they have to respond because they fear they will be reprimanded if they don’t. Or they may feel like they can’t afford to let it sit until the next day because their to-do list is already overloaded.
They experience your late night email as pressure to work.
When the pressure to complete work never eases, it pushes people to overwork. When they overwork, they burn out. And when they are burned out, you get less and less from them, because they have less and less to give.
You, yourself, may be working late into the evening or getting up before dawn because you also experience the pressure of the never-ending task list. It might feel like if you just put in a few more hours, then you will finish and be free of it. How often is that actually true, though?
I know how challenging it can be to manage the pressure to finish your work. But it’s really important to try to get some control over it, because it only leads to overwork and overwhelm. There is always more work to be done.
If this sounds like you, here are a few tips you can try to help manage it:
Get clear on expectations around deadlines and response times. Clear communication is vital. Remember, you will feel pressure even if the requestor doesn’t mean to apply pressure. In other words, the pressure isn’t always true, although it feels very real.
Like you experience pressure, recognize that others may feel pressure coming from you. Adjust your communication accordingly. Be clear about when you expect a response, and provide a deadline. If you are sending email after hours, use “Delay Send” so the email arrives at a reasonable hour and doesn’t cause someone else unnecessary stress.
Take small steps to practice resting instead of working. For example, let the dishes sit in the sink until later rather than loading the dishwasher right away. Even if it’s calling your name!
Boundaries around work hours are really important. Set them for yourself and ask for support from your people on sticking to them. If you want people to honor your boundaries, you have to articulate what they are.
Be proactive about scheduling time off. Schedule it well in advance and keep it front of mind until the dates arrive. If you wait until the last minute to commit, that to-do list might keep you from taking the time you need to restore your energy.
I’m not gonna lie, this is something that can be difficult to manage. It shows up in a lot of different ways in different areas of life. When you begin to recognize the pattern as it pops up, you have an opportunity to work with it in a different way.
Rather than just allowing the feeling to drive you to work, PAUSE.
Ask yourself, is this pressure real or do I just want to get it done to be free of it? Is this something that really has to be done right now?
Figuring out the answers to those questions will probably involve trial and error. Don't be afraid to make mistakes as you learn a new way of handling it.
And remember, you don’t always have to be working. You deserve to rest. Everyone will survive if you do.
Yours in solidarity,
Jill
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