Most of us have a good work ethic. We give work most of our creativity, attention, and energy. We come home burned out, tired, and often uninspired.  Here is a new proposition: Your home life is more important than your work life.  In fact, at some point, we don’t have life at home if we have given our best efforts to work (at least not the abundant life that Jesus came to give us in John 10:10).

We know what you are thinking right now…”Yeah, but if I don’t give work my best, then I will get fired. Then, my life at home will really stink. At some point, I will get ahead at work, and then things will change. I will be able to spend more time around the house and with family.”

Wrong.

Make your home life strong. That way no matter what happens at work, you will come home to a good thing.  Your family will be with you forever. Jobs come and go.  Make sure you get that part of your life right…first.

light saber duels occur in the Steele home

Here are 5 Ways to Keep Work and Home Separate:

1.  Set boundaries on your schedule. If you don’t currently have solid start and stop times at work, then determine NOW when you are going to start and stop.  If you don’t take control of your work, it will take control of you.  Most jobs are never finished at “quitting time”.  Have the courage to drop it and pick it up tomorrow.  As a pastor, I (Robin) am never finished.  Erica, as a midwife, is never finished. There are always more tasks to accomplish. There are always people that need us.  We have had to get very serious about our family time.  We have had to find others to cover for us in order to protect the most important part of our life: family.

2.  Set boundaries on your work relationships.  If you start caring more about what your co-workers think of you than what your family thinks of you, then you are in a bad spot.  The relationships with your spouse and kids are more valuable than anyone else.  We are often tempted to please co-workers and bosses at the expense of our family/home life.  When these thoughts come to mind, it is time to re-evaluate the value you have put on these people’s opinions.  Listen to the opinions of your spouse and kids (They are going to be around a lot longer than your boss and co-workers).

3.  Turn everything off at mealtime.  Eat as many meals as possible as a family.  During meal time turn off all electronics including: television, phones, tablets, games, music (unless you have live musicians accompanying dinner time).  TALK to each other.  Go deep in conversations.  Find topics that everyone likes to talk about.   Have fun. Give everyone undivided attention.  Value the thoughts and feelings of other family members.

Get your romance on in front of the kids.

4.   Take regular breaks. You need days off where you think nothing about work.  You need to take all of your vacation days each year.  You need to plan ahead and make sure that vacation time is a priority in your family.  Find things to do on a weekly basis that allows the family a reprieve from the hustle of the normal week.  This is where you can channel some of your creativity (that you normally use at work) for family time.

5. Connect with Friends.  We all need someone in our life who knows everything. Someone outside of the family should be ready, willing, and able to keep you accountable.  The only way this can happen is if you intentionally invest in them first.  Don’t be afraid to ask each other how life is going.  Ask about work and home.  Ask about boundaries. Encourage, uplift, and sometimes correct each other.  Have fun, be vulnerable.

I’m sure that there are other things that could be added to the list.  If you think of some, please add to the comments section below.  We need to do something. We need to be intentional about the health of our family. We need to make our family a priority, or it will get pushed away.  Your work life might be growing strong, but if it comes at the expense of your family life, that is too high of a price to pay. #notworthit

Let’s go love on our family!