How to balance home, office lives

If it seems like your day job is taking over your night hours, you’re right. The Pew Research Center reports nearly half of all Americans do at least some work from home.

“In particular for those who run their own businesses, there is an epidemic of people working 24/7 and taking work home with them,” said Tina Forsyth, a business consultant and author of “The Entrepreneur’s Trap.”

The pressure to be constantly on the clock can have serious health consequences, according to the American Psychological Association, which found in 2012 that 65 percent of Americans cited work as a top source of stress. Untreated, chronic stress can lead to anxiety, insomnia, obesity and heart disease.

We’ve collected a few tips to help you limit the time you spend working from home.

Decide when and where you recharge best

Your work may not fit into 40 hours a week. But it doesn’t have to follow you everywhere.

So what’s most important to you — dinnertime with the family? Clear weekends? No work in the evenings?

“I will work until midnight on Friday if I need to, but from midnight Friday until Monday morning, I don’t work,” Forsyth said. “What that means for me during the week is that I do quite a bit of work in the evenings, and I’m OK with that, because I know that I get the weekend off.”

Seek support from your boss

The Mayo Clinic advises looking into your company’s policies about flexible hours, compressed workweeks, job sharing and telecommuting. A more flexible schedule could heighten your sense of control.

“Start by having an open conversation with your supervisor,” the American Psychological Association advises. “The purpose of this isn’t to lay out a list of complaints, but to come up with an effective plan for managing the stressors you’ve identified, so you can perform at your best on the job.”

Time yourself

End your workday at a fixed time, or set two finishing times — one of which is the absolute latest you’re willing to work.

Silence the ping

According to Pew, 46 percent of surveyed workers said the advent of laptops, phones and tablets has led them to work more hours. One in 5 workers said they were expected to read and respond to work-related emails, even when not at work.

“You have to shut down the ping,” Forsyth said. “You have to shut down the technology. Sure, I have an iPhone, but on the weekends, there’s no email delivered to this thing. Nobody can resist a ping.”

Even better, keep your laptop and phone out of sight for blocks of time so you’re not tempted to check them.

Fashion a more compelling personal life

You might be piling on work because you have nothing better to do with your time.

Make plans to get out of the house, and keep work chatter to a minimum after hours. Sometimes, just talking about work can mentally take a person right back to the office.

Keep on task

Some of us may be bringing work home because we truly aren’t spending enough time on it at the office.

For example, Pew found that 22 percent of employed Internet users shopped online at work at least some of the time.

Try limiting the time you spend at work visiting social media, searching the Web or checking personal email, to ensure you’re not sucked into a digital vortex.

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