We all know how challenging it is to achieve a healthy balance between work and the rest of your life. More and more, workers in the United States are craving this kind of balance. This is evidenced through growing support of unions and demands for better employee standards among health care workers and many other jobs too. Having work-life balance is essential for a healthy mind. Here are a few tips to work towards work-life balance.
Manage Expectations & Ask for Help
If you’re feeling particularly overwhelmed, don’t shy away from asking for help. A lot of us take great pride in our work and our ability to get things done. Everyone loves a “boss,” right? But, you can’t always deliver a 100%, otherwise you would be a unthinking, unfeeling machine. It’s OK to redistribute work sometimes and ask for support from those around you. Chances are co-workers will be glad to help you out especially if they know they can rely on you when times get a little tough for them too.
Tackle Tough Tasks Head On & Then Cool Down
Many of us, at least once in our lives, have been on the other end of a mountain of difficult tasks. Often, it is the workload that keeps us from achieving the work-life balance that we so desperately need. Managing your time effectively can make a world of difference when you’re trying to achieve true work-life balance.
First, it’s important to stop and take notice the next time you’re feeling overwhelmed. The project can wait 3 minutes while you pause to breathe and re-assess how you’re feeling. Checking in with yourself throughout your day will certainly help manage your energy and time more effectively. Sometimes just powering through through tasks can make you feel worse. This will also may also keep you from being as productive as you would like. With that, it’s best to sit down and create a to-do list once you arrive to your office, ranking the toughest tasks of the day to the easiest. In essence, prioritize! Tackle the tough stuff first in the day when you know that you will have a lot of energy. After that, work your way down that list.
You can leave the office at the end of the day knowing that you worked through the most important projects. The important pieces will be knocked out first and when your energy or focus starts to wane you can take on those smaller tasks.
Take a Break – Your Health Depends On It
In an article titled, “Americans Are Too Afraid and Stressed to Take Days Off from Work” author Jillian Berman reported that about 40% of Americans don’t plan to use all their paid time off in a year. That’s a high number! While some of us may feel that our jobs really need us for our excellent work quality, as humans with full lives we also need (and deserve) a break. Taking time off for a vacation is a simple and obvious way to give yourself much-needed recuperation. While Americans have gotten slightly better about taking time off, we are still working ourselves way too much, which can lead to a lot of negative health effects over time. And if traveling isn’t your thing, or not cost-effective at the moment, consider a staycation and visit some local sites in your city or town and catch up on some much-needed leisurely reading.
Any time off will do your body, and mind, good.
Take a Tech Break
Over the past few decades, technology has become an increasingly bigger part of our daily lives. Being attached to your phone 24/7 can leave you feeling stressed out and overworked. Every job can stand a little down time during the day, so if you struggle to step away from your gadgets for fear that you might miss something, try starting with a quick 5 minute tech break. After that, gradually increase your time until you reach a time you find most rejuvenating. You may even want to take a nice long bath to ensure you can’t hear or see that phone of yours.
While everyone’s work circumstances differ greatly I hope that these simple tips might help you gain a little more balance in your daily life.
If you need help achieving work-life balance, therapy can help. Contact us to get started with a therapist today.
