These days, a healthy work-life balance can seem like a hopeless and impossible feat. The term work-life balance usually means something different to every individual, so here we will just share the most common and effective tips to help you find the balance that’s right for you.
Identify the things most important in your life
- Keep in mind that when you identify these things, they must be your most important priorities. Don’t let others influence what you think is most important or this process won’t work.
- You will have to also create firm boundaries in order to devote the kind of time you need to spend on these priorities. At this point, it should become much easier to identify where your time is being wasted. You will need to figure out how to effectively cut those things out of your life.
- For example, you may start answering emails in blocks throughout the day instead of addressing them as soon as they are received. You may even need to cut less constructive people out of your day completely, but do it in a polite way.
Avoid burning yourself out
- A lot of people develop perfectionist tendencies at a young age when demands on their time are kept limited. It’s easier to keep those habits as a kid, but when you grow up, life always gets more complicated. Keeping those habits over the years will begin to burn you out slowly and it always adds up to become very destructive.
- Let go of perfectionism, this may be extremely hard to do but over time it is possible. Instead of striving for perfection, train yourself to strive for excellence instead. If you can accomplish this, it will dramatically change your life in a very constructive way.
Don’t commit to drastic changes
- Start small and gradually work your way to the ultimate goal at a reasonable pace. If you try to change too much all at once, you will likely find yourself in the same stressful situation within a week or two.
- For example, if your goal is to spend more time with family, start by adding an extra 15 minutes per day. Then work up to 30 minutes, then to an hour, and so forth. Take small successes and allow them to build upon one another.
Exercise and meditate
- It is a well studied and documented fact that exercise, yoga, or meditation reduces stress in a big way. While doing these activities, your brain receives a great deal of feel-good endorphins.
- Once again, try starting with small changes. Perhaps you could begin by devoting just 10 minutes each day before and after work for one of these activities. Or you might even try 5 minutes of deep-breathing during your morning commute.
Unplug from Work
- With the rise of new technologies making our lives easier, it has also become more and more difficult to leave our work at work. By keeping us more connected than ever, we also expect constant accessibility to one another, regardless of the situation.
- When you don’t allow yourself to unplug from work, you never leave work, and you keep a constant flow of stress going into your system. For example, by texting at your kid’s football game or responding to work emails on family movie night you are not taking the time to enjoy what is actually happening.
- Make quality time truly quality time. By not reacting to the updates from work, you will reduce stress and instead develop a stronger habit of resilience.
In addition to trying these tips, it might be helpful to try using productivity software. Some good ones out there are Freedom, LeechBlock or RescueTime, take a look and see if they are right for you.
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