We’ve talked a bit this month about ways to balance work and home, but always with our focus on the home side. In fairness, we need to look at things from the work side. When we talk about it from the home side, we focus on ways to try to leave the job at the office. Now, we need to talk a bit about leaving home stuff home.

It’s all too easy to take a few minutes here or there to check your social media feed, send a personal email, make a few calls. None of those things necessarily takes much time, but they are a distraction. Every time you step away from work, it takes a few minutes to get back into the swing.

Now, I’m not suggesting that you should never take breaks or speak to your co-workers, just like I didn’t say that you should never answer work calls or emails outside the office. You can try to keep the personal errands to scheduled breaks or the lunch hour. What I am suggesting is that we can all benefit from an intentional effort to keep work at work and home at home as much as is possible. Who knows, maybe that’s the secret of balance!