It can be difficult to unplug from work or establish sensible boundaries for your work-life balance in this era of continual connectedness. Setting boundaries early is not only draining, but it also forces you to constantly live up to high expectations, which may be disheartening and unsustainable.
The chance to establish new boundaries to safeguard yourself against burnout is one of the benefits of starting a new job that is most often overlooked. Those burnout-promoting behaviors, such as late-night emailing, accepting assignments when your plate is already full, and unused paid time off (PTO), don't have to follow you from one job to the next.
5 Ways to set boundaries when starting a new job:
1. Find out what motivates you.
Think about what motivates your need to succeed. Many of your motivations are probably good ones, like your love of the profession or your desire to demonstrate your diligence and diligence. But it's also possible that some concerns are what motivate you to self-destruct. Unhelpful beliefs frequently begin with the words:
I must...
I must…
I need to...
Think about the unspoken norms that guide your behavior. Naming your worries helps you release their control over you and gives you the ability to rethink your perceptions of your value as a person and as a worker.
2. Think of the positive.
High achievers frequently respond in this way because they believe that refusing or putting boundaries will make them seem unable, tough, or demanding. Self-management, an emotional intelligence competency linked to controlling your time and energy, is actually a crucial leadership competency that contributes up to 90% of career success. You can tell you have self-awareness and great time management, prioritization, and communication skills if you set boundaries.
When you establish boundaries in your new work, you not only demonstrate critical leadership skills but also give others the opportunity to learn how to respect you. In other words, your actions send out signals to others about what is appropriate.
3. Set up your on and off hours
To avoid feeling like you're always working, establish boundaries for your work hours as soon as you start your new job.
Discuss your "on" hours and agree on times when you'll be reachable with your manager during the onboarding process. You'll discover that most managers don't have an expectation that you'll be available on the weekends and after hours if you ask them directly.
Instead of expecting that your supervisor expects you to labor nonstop, Thompson advises that you might be pleasantly surprised. And now that you know how important balance is, you might feel more at ease taking some much-needed time for yourself.
4. Establish Your Turnaround Time Expectations
When work inquiries begin to arrive, resist the impulse to accept them right away! According to Fosslien and West Duffy, "You may believe that accepting every request makes you a good employee, but getting burned out makes you a bad employee."
To begin, find out when a coworker needs a task to be accomplished. After that, consider your available bandwidth and reply with what is realistically feasible for you. Your workload will be easier to manage and your team members' faith in you will grow as a result of your successful completion of deadlines.
5. When Your Boundaries Are Crossed, Raise a Flag
Even the strictest restrictions will be broken, either by us or by other people. Be kind to yourself if you break your promise to log out promptly at 5 p.m. on a busy Tuesday; it happens, and you can start over the following day.
If your limits are becoming shaky due to your growing workload: Early on, raise a concern and request assistance from your management. Although it could be intimidating to confess you can't accomplish it all, by making yourself—and your manager—determine what's most crucial, you're actually being more productive.
Fosslien and West Duffy advise, "Ask your manager to help you prioritize your job." "Your manager will value your initiative, so do this.
A new job can be exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time. You can position yourself for long-term sustainability by establishing clear boundaries early on.
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