Question: I seem to take my work home with me and never get time to relax. How do I leave the office at the office and spend quality time with my friends and family?
Answer: It’s easy; don’t take it home with you, it will still be there tomorrow. Seriously though when you get home, first thing you need to do is change out of your work clothes and unless you are on-call, shut off the phone. Make a conscious decision to switch gears and leave the computer and work-worries at the office. Plan for fun at home and focus on what is most important in your life outside of work. If there are times when you just have to take work home make sure you schedule time for yourself. If you are consistently overloaded with work, maybe it is time to have a discussion with your manager to talk about workload, priority setting and expectations. They may not know that you are taking work home all the time. Maybe there is someone else in your work unit who may be able to lighten your load.