Work/Life Balance Part 2: Keeping work at work, this time for real

Last week, I asked if it is possible to untangle the stress of working and having a life by centering on harmony, getting honest about how work invades personal time and setting some realistic boundaries between the personal and professional.

I love how holistic these three steps are and I do believe that being truthful, accountable and emotional are necessary to pulling out stress and finding a calm medium as people who want to nurture ourselves, our families and our careers. I also think that once that touchy-feely goodness has been thoroughly examined, it is important to talk strategy. One of my favorite how-to blogs, Dumb Little Man, offers up some great tangible tips for leaving work at the office (or home office or car office or cafe office or wherever you're holding meetings, making deadlines or earning income).

These refreshing tips take into account that we all need time to process, vent and feel needed, both at work and at home. There's no assumption that just because you're striving to find balance that you're some kind of perfectly centered human being (phew). And one more tip about these tips: Be sure to scan the comments as this blog's readers are pretty insightful as well.

Are you keeping your professional life and personal life separate? What works for you?