Turn It Off: How To Leave Your Work At Work

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Can you ever care TOO much for your job and career? Does the idea of making a mistake, missing a milestone, and/or not meshing well with your co-workers cause you to stay up at night, or even stress during your regular work hours? Have you ever been told to take some time away from work to regroup personally and professionally because you have just become way too wound up by the day to day responsibilities of your job? If so, you may have become one of the millions of employees or employers who’s just way too emotionally invested in the job.

I will admit to being a control freak. Not being able to control my work environment, who I worked with, how I worked, and the outcome of projects and other work product for clients caused a bit of anxiety for me for a period of time. However, my desire to have complete life/work balance after seeing friends and family members stressing WAY too much over things that were out of their hands caused me to reflect on just what was important to me, and take a step back with the worrying and stressing that our jobs can place on us.
If you find yourself possibly going over the deep end emotionally with your job, its responsibilities, your goals and expectations, here are few tips to ring it all back in to make your work day much more enjoyable.

1) Prioritize and Keep Everything in Perspective.
I may be a little jaded due to my extensive history of being laid off, fired and/or just plain-old let go, but I now have the mindset that a job is just a job. If you lose it, there will be another one. Yes, your journey may or may not be traditional with the timing and/or direction of your next opportunity, but keep in mind no job is worth losing your peace, sanity and/or rest over.
2) Think and Take Some Time Before Reacting.
I flew off the handle at one of my earlier jobs, and though I don’t quite regret it, I know I could have handled my conversation with my manager much better. Despite the fact that I thought he was a bumbling idiot, I still owed him, and my position, some respect before speaking. I have learned to temper my tongue and take some time before taking a statement or someone else’s actions personal and snapping back.
3) Recognize Your Triggers.
And Avoid Them. You KNOW your skin crawls when the chick from accounting comes to your cubicle to gossip about all of the other co-workers and complain about how much she hates working there. Negative energy is contagious. There is no need to take on the worries and negativity of others. Kindly avoid anything that may possibly cause you to welcome emotionally disturbing workplace events and conversations into your life.
4) Balance.
Most people who stress over their jobs and become emotionally drained do so because they take on too much. Some jobs require not only extensive work hours in the office, they also may demand on-call type accessibility that may seep into your personal time with friends and family. Your time away from the job is just as, if not more, important. Set boundaries.
Rashida Maples, Esq. is Founder and Managing Partner of J. Maples & Associates (www.jmaplesandassociates.com . She has practiced Entertainment, Real Estate and Small Business Law for 10 years, handling both transactional and litigation matters. Her clients include R&B Artists Bilal and Olivia, NFL Superstar Ray Lewis, Fashion Powerhouse Harlem’s Fashion Row and Hirschfeld Properties, LLC.