Mixing up Domestic Problems With Office Problems Have Negative Effective on Your Home Life

Working long hours, or away from home, taking work home and having higher responsibility can all have a negative effect on a person’s home life. Problems outside work can affect a person's ability to perform effectively at work. Domestic problems such as childcare, caring for other dependents, such as elderly relatives, relationship problems, and change in financial state, or debt or money worries, problems with weight, and personal injury or illness can negatively affect a person’s work. The person loses out – as do their family and their employer. It becomes a vicious circle.

Stressors at home can affect those at work and vice versa. When we take family problems to work, our stress level goes up and our productivity comes down. Similarly, work problems too have an impact not only on our family but on every aspect of our lives. Not everybody can handle the high price of success. Not only is this true in running an independent business; it’s equally true of many corporate executives I know. Here’s a story which illustrates that some people should put limits on the price they pay.

After missing interaction with her father for a long time, a little girl was force to ask her mother, “Why doesn’t daddy play with me? He comes home from work, and right away he goes to his room. And as soon as dinner is over, he’s off to do some more work. I want to play with my daddy. Doesn’t he love me anymore?”

So mother, fighting back tears of her own loneliness and pain, tries to explain, “My dear, your daddy is a very busy man. He loves us very much, and that is why he works so hard. He has so much work to do at his office that he has to bring some of it home.”

The little girl thought for a moment about what her mother just told her. Suddenly, her eyes brightened and she asked, “Well, if he can’t get all his work done at the office, why don’t they just put him in a less demanding job?”

Why not, indeed! Every person must know the limit he should pay for financial and career success. It becomes pertinent especially when other important values are sacrificed at the altar of material success.

Either you run your day or your day will run you. While often eliciting admiration from outsiders, the workaholic’s behavior can result in the alienation of family, loss of health, and eventually a crisis of values. Ironically, the workaholic is not always the one who makes the most money. That’s because he or she is often more task-oriented than results-oriented.

The man who loves his family allots time for every aspect of his life. He even allots time for drifting, by scheduling time to do nothing. He knows to limit the hours of work and to have quality time for other important values, such as family. He would never be afraid to work –but only when necessary. He does this by working smarter, not always longer –by focusing, on more productivity per hour instead of putting in more hours.

One of the best ways to start regaining control of your time is to learn to say, “No.” The result of saying yes to everything is that you spend long hours trying to get yourself out of obligations you never should have agreed to in the first place. Learn to nicely say, 2No, I don’t think I can. But if that changes, I’ll give you a call. Try it, it works.”

Another good way to control your time is, when you work, work; and when you play, play. Mixing the two doesn’t work. It causes a lot of unnecessary distractions. If you work and play at the same time, you’ll miss the joy that comes from great accomplishment and the complete relaxation that is the gift of pure play.

Some men will promise, “I’ve got to get my family to the beach.” But unfortunately while there all they’re thinking is, “I should be at the office. How come I’m at the beach? I have so much to do.” So instead of enjoying the visit to the beach, they start trying how they can cut this trip short so they can get back to work? The result is that they mess up a potentially wonderful time by thinking “work” during playtime.

Another great way to manage your time is to know what you’re capable of doing. Each of us has a unique nature which daily controls the peaks and ebbs of our productivity. Find out when you are at your best. If you are most productive early in the morning, take advantage of this by scheduling your biggest projects as the first order of the day. For example, if your career involves persuading people, arrange to schedule appointments over breakfast. But if opposite is the case, you have hard time being alert in the mornings; schedule your most demanding business activities for the afternoon and evening.

Just like telephone is a remarkable tool in modern communication, it also plays havoc with any daily plan or routine. Therefore, make sure the telephone is there primarily for your convenience. Control who can reach you and when. If you have a secretary, train him/her to screen your phone calls effectively. Or use an answering machine, if you don’t have a secretary so that you can return phone calls at your convenience. Most people waste time and money on inefficient phone conversations.

Take the time to analyze your work procedures. Is your filing method up-to-date? What about your record keeping? Today there are many efficient ways to increase productivity through electronic means. Computer age has brought with it tremendous possibilities for processing more information faster. You might want to take advantage of some of them. If you can do your faster, there will absolutely no need to take work home.

Do you remember your child’s latest report card? If so, how does it compare to the one before? When did you attend your child’s school events last? Remember the last meaningful one-to-one conversation you had with your child? What was your child’s main concern? Children remember all interactions with their parents. Unfortunately, parents are often preoccupied and inattentive.

Conclusion

To manage work related stress effectively, you need to recognize the importance and interaction of work and home problems. A person can experience excessive pressure and demands outside work just as much as they can at work. Stress tends to build up over time because of a combination of factors that may not all be work related. Conflicting demands of work and home can cause excessive stress. When you do your work and go home to your family after the day’s work to take care of the home, there will be happiness in the family. The happiness in the home will encourage you to increase your productivity in the office.

Even though you are not obliged to tell your personal problems to your employer, but there are some practical things the organization could do to assist you cope: Arrange a confidential meeting with your boss, allowing him the opportunity to discuss any problems you are having, whether the problems are work related or personal. You could seek for more flexible working hours if you have childcare problem, or even ask for some paid time off to deal with your problems maybe to visit your doctor.