Finally, the dream was going to become the reality. I’d been working quietly behind the scenes for months. And the day after I worked the final day of my notice, I hopped a plane to NYC to celebrate my 30th birthday with my husband. To a new stage of life, we toasted. I was convinced leaving my day job and launching my own company would be the answer to every problem in my life. And I couldn’t believe I finally found the courage to make it happen.
From the moment I took a seat at my desk in my home office that first official day, something changed within me. Suddenly, my income (or lack there of) was totally dependent on the amount of work I was willing to put in. I wasn’t about to be the reason that I failed. Everything I did had to be perfect. Every single thing got my all. I would work from the moment my eyes opened until my head hit the pillow. (And, confession? Sometimes until my head hit the desk…)
It didn’t matter though, every moment was worth it. I’d built a thriving, successful business with my partner. We had more work than we knew what to do with, and things were only looking up. Except one thing we didn’t really account for…
I was fast approaching burn out.
Without realizing it, my dream job became a nightmare. I was working at all hours of the day. I existed in a perpetual state of overwhelm. I felt like no matter how much I worked, I could always do more. No matter how well the day went, I’d crawl in bed feeling defeated each night. And after a while of trying to maintain that unrealistic existence, it was breakdown city.
It took me by surprise, if I’m honest. My partner and I were always so careful to introduce boundaries where we saw they were necessary. Best friends with an ocean between us, we implemented strict communication boundaries. We had boundaries in place around our client work and communication guidelines. I thought we had it all figured out.
I later realized that I’d failed to implement the most important boundaries.
- There was no boundary in place to protect my working hours.
- There was no boundary in place to protect my life outside of the business.
- There was no boundary in place to make sure each project had its own designated focused time.
If you read any part of this blog post and found yourself nodding your head, hi. You’re my people. A perfectionist at heart, I was beginning to think the dream job was just an urban myth. But with careful and strategic boundaries, it can be a reality.
If you’re a fellow workaholic, you’re in a safe place. You’ll find new content each week on Fridays to help you transition from workaholic to boundary boss!
And if you really want to take things to the next level, consider my Boundary Boss Coaching Program!
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