CEO of Me: Creating a Life that Works in the Flexible Job Age

Chapter Five. Tradeoffs of Compartmentalizing Work and Personal Life

	I separate for my sanity and to keep the focus on what matters most to me—my family. I enjoy my work too, and it’s important to me, but if I don’t set walls around it, work starts to take over everything. I feel pressure to always do my best, and so if I let work seep into the home, I end up thinking about work all the time. My daughter ends up saying things to me like “Mom, I feel like you’re with me, but you’re not really with me.” So I try to keep work in the office and family time for family. Once the workday is done, I can shut the door to my office knowing that I’ve done good work and go to pick up the kids and enjoy being with them.”
	--Elaine, Family Firster

(Elaine works ...