Every person has many roles that they fulfill in their life. Roles like son/daughter, partner, friend, parent, caregiver, sibling, and worker are just a few of the identities that people assume throughout their lives, and creating a satisfying equilibrium between all of these roles is an important factor that contributes to quality of life (Askari et al., 2018).
Managing roles is hard. That is why it is rare to come across a person who is satisfied with the way they perform in every part of their life. Sacrifices are typically made, especially in the personal life domain, in order to keep up with all of our professional goals and responsibilities. Have you ever heard anyone say: “I am so happy with my work-life balance”? Me neither.
In the Instagram era, our negative perceptions of our work-life balance are exacerbated by the picture-perfect lives of social media personalities. When we watch them proudly display clean houses, happy children, loving marriages, great friendships, and lucrative careers, it can leave anyone feeling chronically substandard. While everyone knows that social media is all smoke and mirrors, the negative emotions that arise as a consequence of believing we have poor work-life balance are very real.
Once in a while, research uncovers a simple strategy or “hack” that can improve the quality of our engagement with each one of our roles and increase satisfaction with work-life balance, without making colossal life changes. One such hack, is transitions.
What Are Transitions?
Transitions sound complex, but they are no more than simple routine actions that we take when switching between roles. Transitions allow us to mentally exit the psychological, emotional, and behavioural practices that are associated with one role, and initiate the ones that are required in the next role (Ashforth et al., 2000). In other words, a transition is an activity that connects two roles, such as worker and parent, and allows a person to have time and space to shift their mindset from one role to the next.
Advances in technology, coupled with the pandemic, created opportunities for many roles to become remote: work, education, networking, and even dating.
One transitional activity that was previously built into most people’s daily routine, is a commute. While most people do not think favourably about their commute, the commute is an important transition that allows people to exit their home role and enter their work role, and vice versa (Jachimowicz et al., 2021). When commuting home after work, people have the opportunity to reflect on their workday, resolve negative emotions and experiences that arose throughout the day, and cross the boundary from the work role into what is to come. Having a commute has its perks; it allows us to leave work at work and prepare for the ensuing roles that are required for the rest of the day.
How do transitions shape work-life balance?
In the post-COVID world, commuting has been eliminated from many people’s lives. Advances in technology, coupled with the pandemic, created opportunities for many roles to become remote: work, education, networking, and even dating. While this may add conveniences to people’s lives, it removes some important transitions, and blurs the boundaries between different, and sometimes opposing, roles. A leader who is assertive, meticulous, and firm now has a split second to shift to a gentle, patient, and warm mother once her kids enter the room. As expected, this can create conflict between the two roles since a “proper” transition has not taken place. For instance, the mother could exhibit unnecessary formal and strict behaviour with her children if they don’t follow her requests. These are behaviours that are usually reserved for her work role.
Properly transitioning between different roles is important for work-life balance and well-being (Leduc et al., 2016). When there are no transitions in place, such as with remote work, it can contribute to negative experiences like feeling overwhelmed, not being able to focus, and functioning poorly in each role.
To combat this boundary blurring, one can put simple routines in place that will signal to them and the people around them that a role transition is taking place. Such routines can be as lengthy as taking an exercise class or going for a walk, or as simple as changing clothes or taking a shower. Whatever the activity is, it should contribute to the feeling that one role has ended, and another is about to begin. 
During the transitional activity, the parts of our identity that are activated with one role should begin to dim, and become replaced with the thoughts, feelings, and behaviours that are associated with the next role. For example, if making a cup of coffee is a transitional activity for someone who works from home, they should feel more ready for work once they have made their cup of coffee, compared to their readiness before they made it. This simple 2-minute transition can significantly improve the feeling of balance and preparedness when approaching work, and can improve work performance. It is therefore an adventageous strategy not only for the individual, who benefits from increased well-being, but also for their workplace which benefits from a more balanced and engaged worker.
People use this simple strategy, creating transitions, intuitively in their everyday daily life because it “feels right”. Becoming more intentional with it and ensuring that proper transitions are always in place, can contribute meaningfully to the quality of people’s engagement with different roles, their work-life balance, and subsequently, their quality of lives.
About the author
Dr. Anna Sverdlik is the founder of Melioscope. Since 2011, she has been specializing in uncovering organizational structures that shape motivation, engagement, and well-being.