7 Ways To Achieve a Healthy Work-Life Balance
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In today’s technology-driven world where everyone is chasing “I want to have it all”, your work is rapidly penetrating the walls of your home.
Even without your conscious approval.
With piles of documents assembled on your bed, all of us are guilty of prioritizing work over life, at least once.
After all the blame-game, when you finally search for “how to achieve the work-life balance”, you land up here!
So, here’s your answer.
7 Ways To Achieve a Healthy Work-Life Balance
1. Take some personal time off
Achieving work-life balance is no rocket science, yet so many of us struggle with it.
Because there are a handful of people who recognize the value of personal time.
Just like your work timings, your personal life timings are equally important.
Set firm boundaries about your availability and learn to respect them.
Don’t check emails or answer work calls when you are off the clock.
Instead, make use of this time to bond with your friends and family or catch up with your long-lost passion.
2. Enjoy Vacation time
If you are waiting for the work to end so that you can finally lock your tickets to your dream destination.
Let me tell you, it never will!
Vacation time doesn’t necessarily mean a two-week-long trip to Bali, but even a day away from the long hours at work can help you feel refreshed.
3. Log off
While on some days, technology is your best friend.
On the other days, it’s your worst enemy.
Especially when it invades your personal life.
Don’t be afraid to unplug and detoxify your body with all technological clutter.
Every once in a while, shut down your phone, log out from your email accounts and learn to be in the moment.
It will allow you to experience real joy.
4. Make yourself a priority
Stop bashing yourself for everything you have not done and learn to celebrate your wins, however small it is.
You are a human, so behave like one.
Exercise every day and implement short breaks throughout the day.
The constant exposure to the bright screen can put your mental peace at great risk.
This is only possible when you make yourself a priority and not complementary.
5. Understand that there’s no ‘Perfect’
Perfectionism is a myth and it can prove to be destructive if left unchecked.
As a kid, it might have helped you push the boundaries but as you grow up, this habit might turn into an obsession.
While the debate on perfection has been a timeless topic, there’s a reason why most of the successful people advocate Progress against Perfection!
If you chase a ‘perfect’ work-life balance, you will be always left disappointed.
Because as I said, it doesn’t exist.
So instead, try to be realistic and set achievable goals for yourself.
Work-life balance while working from home
In the event when the entire world is struggling with a Pandemic and is compelled to work at home, the concept of work from home has gained great momentum.
Along with it, the physical line between work and life responsibilities is also submerged.
So, here are a few additional tips for everyone who is miserably failing to cope with this work-from-home scenario.
6. Determine your priorities and limit time-wasting activities (& people!)
WFH is exhausting when you fail to identify your priorities and procrastinate about your task list.
So, before you are trapped in this vicious cycle, learn to prioritize.
Limit your social media usage, assign deadlines to your tasks, and allot a certain time for all your activities.
Learn the art of time-management and don’t fear to shut off accessibility to people who consume your mental peace.
You can always catch up on weekends.
7. Believe that work-from-home doesn’t mean work-at-home
When you are at home, you are often compelled to go back to all the unwashed dishes or ranting young children.
The whole work-from-home concept might be new to you but it’s definitely not a reason to let it creep in your personal life and vice versa.
Draw a line between your work and home responsibilities and don’t let it overlap with each other.
Train your kids and other family members to respect your workplace, even if it is at home.
As long as you know when to work and when to be at home – it’s not very difficult to work-from-home.
Importance of Work-life Balance
Most of you must already be dismissing me in their head with “It’s easier said than done.” Well, I agree with you.
The real drill lies in implementation.
But these benefits will make you believe that it’s surely worth a try!
1. Better health condition
Stress has a history of jeopardizing your health, both mentally and physically.
Long work hours that are often a result of poor work-life balance can not only impact your mental health and can also lead to illnesses like flu, headaches, or even strokes.
2. Higher productivity and more engagement
People are often misguided with the phenomenon of “The longer you work, the better it will be.” The real engagement is tested with productivity and that is pretty low in comparison to the total work hours invested.
According to a study, the average productive time of a worker totaled at 2 hours and 48 minutes, only.
3. Fewer workplace burnouts
Workplace burnout is pretty much a thing and can only be prevented with a healthy work-life balance.
When you take some time away from work, it prevents you from getting overwhelmed with the never-ending turmoil which in turn reduces your probability of experiencing a burnout.
4. Higher concentration and improved focus
Once you learn the art of balance, you will be amazed at the number of benefits it has to offer.
Improved focus, more mindfulness, developed concentration, to name a few.
Along with that it also has some mental health benefits like reduced anxiety and improved retention rates.
Over to you…
A healthy work-life balance is not an overnight process.
It’s a way of life that will require concentrated efforts over a period of time until it comes naturally to you.
But once achieved, it will revolutionize your lifestyle and enable it to take a satisfactory and productive turn.
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