Tips to Better Work-Life Balance
Whether you own your own business or not, the balance of work and life is a complicated and challenging dance. There are those of us who pour their heart, soul and energy into their work and leave absolutely nothing left for their personal life and then there are those who try to prioritize their personal life and let their work fall to the back burner. Neither way is wrong or right, but there is a common theme; imbalance.
It is important to thrive in your work – to achieve your goals, exceed the expectations and be generally successful. It is also important to thrive in your personal life – to nurture relationships, maintain hobbies and find general joy and passion in things that serve and better YOU as an individual. The real question is, can you do both at the same time? The answer is: YES. You surely can, but it’s anything but easy. I’m going to share some of my personal favorite tips on how to achieve a better work-life balance. We all want to be better in every area of our lives, and if we can find a way to give our all to everything we do, we will be so much better for it.
Why is work-life balance so important?
“All work and no play” isn’t a sustainable rule of life. Eventually if you work TOO much, and spend no time or energy on yourself personally, you will experience what is commonly known as burnout, and inevitably also fail at your job. That’s what we call a lose-lose. In order to be a fully-functioning, productive person in your career, it is highly important that you also take breaks from the business world. Running yourself into the ground to meet your deadlines and build your business might seem like the best idea, but I can assure you it isn’t. If you burn the candle at both ends working too much, there will be nothing left of you.
Work-life balance is the art of complimenting your work with your personal life. It’s balancing the world of business and the world of YOU outside of work.
And it’s the most important because…
Without balance, the eco-system is thrown off and everything suffers
Putting too much time and emphasis on work can lead to burnout and mental health challenges
You need time to focus on what makes you, YOU, in addition to your career
Typically, people find that they are happier in all areas of their life, as well as most productive, if they are able to find the right balance to fit their lifestyle. And that isn’t the same for everyone. Thus, why it’s important to put intention and thought into what YOUR work-life balance looks like and just how you can achieve it successfully.
1. Set a strict schedule and stick to it!
One of the best tactics to keeping a healthy balance between work and life, is to separate the two very clearly. Designate hours ONLY for work and do the same for the rest of your life. If you are your own boss and running your own business, pretend that you aren’t. Act as if you are clocking on and off. Leave your work-related worries where they are, walk out the door and begin your “off” hours. Having a set schedule outlined before you even begin work will make it easier to distinguish between the two worlds and feel like you are spending adequate time in both.
2. Be fully present in whichever world you are immersed.
Once you have decided when you are working and when you are most certainly NOT working, the next key step is to simply be present where you are. Although, it sounds a lot simpler than it is. But truly, making a schedule to stick to is of the utmost importance, but if you aren’t present where you are – it is all for not. When you’re at home with your family, be there with them. Turn your phone off, don’t check your email and stay off social media. And when you’re at work, be there, too. Focus on your tasks, stay busy and productive and tune the rest of the world out. If you are in one world but stuck thinking about the other, you aren’t doing anything to the best of your ability. If you are giving yourself to too many things at once, you aren’t giving your best to anything.
3. Listen to your mind and body for signs of burnout.
This one is big. A huge indication that you are overworked is the ever-famous burnout. Signs of burnout include exhaustion, lack of motivation, feelings of defeat, symptoms of depression, physical fatigue and a decrease in passion for what you are doing. Burnout is common in our society, as we as a culture have an inherent expectation to do THE MOST. We get so driven, so busy, so focused on going that we forget to slow down and care for ourselves. When your work-life balance is out of whack, you will really feel it. You might notice these signs and symptoms when your balance weighs too heavily in the work area, in which case you know it’s time to change your emphasis and give yourself a little break. Take a step back and listen to your mind and body.
4. Constantly reassess your balance and keep it in check.
The most important thing to remember about work-life balance is that it’s ever-changing and evolving. You can have it all figured out and then life shifts, and change happens, which it always does, and you need to reassess your balance to suit that moment. There will be times in life when your personal life demands more of you, so you have to adjust. There will also be times when your work is pressing and needs more of your time and attention, and to that you will also have to adjust. The same way life is always changing, so is the juggle of life and work. It is so important to constantly be checking in with your balance and see if it’s working for you. Don’t expect what works for March to be the same as what works in December, because I can almost promise you it won’t!
Let’s face it, we all want to just be our best in whatever we’re doing. We strive to kill it at our job, and we want to be successful, happy, and a good person outside of work. Finding the best work-life balance is the best way to achieve that. If you can find a healthy relationship between your two worlds, you are going to be able to be your absolute best wherever you are.
You CAN pour your heart and soul into your job and live all your dreams. You CAN give every ounce of yourself to your family, friends, personal life and yourself. You CAN do all the things and still be successful and healthy. The secret here is balance. Now that you have some tips in how to find it, it’s your job to set out to find the best balance your life has to offer! You can do it, friend.