Healthy work-life balance refers to maintaining a harmonious relationship between your work and personal life. It involves consciously managing your time and energy to meet both professional and personal commitments while prioritizing self-care and well-being.
Just like in our diets, to stay healthy and energized we need variety. When it comes to work-life balance, we need to include a variety of activities and rest. We tend to believe that we can be productive all the time, or that an eight-hour day at work equates to eight hours of output, but if you seriously think about it, that’s almost impossible to achieve.
There’s no prescription that will fit everyone when it comes to improving work-life balance. And you may have to play with what time scale feels best for you.
Trying to find balance in any single day may feel frustrating, but the balance may be easier to achieve across a week or more.
Here are a few tips:
Plan ahead
Plan ahead to combine work activities with leisure, social, or fitness activities. If you find yourself with several virtual meetings back-to-back, try taking them while you go for a walk.
Embrace the way your brain works Use productivity hacks like a timer to work in short, focused bursts. Block out all other distractions so you can make the most of your time.
End work at a certain time
Set a time to end work for the day, and reinforce it by powering down work-related devices, locking your office, or scheduling something afterward.
Practice mindfulness
Mindfulness makes imbalance hard to ignore. When you practice mindfulness techniques, like meditation or breath awareness, you become more in-tune with your emotions and physical sensations. Paying attention to these feelings helps you learn how to notice when you might be suppressing a need to work. It’s hard to return to that spreadsheet after you notice your stomach rumbling.
Find something you love outside of work to engage in
If you have something that you’re excited about doing after work, it will make it easier to disconnect from work messages or end your day at a predetermined time. Our hobbies boost our energy and vitality. When we play and feel creative, we bring our fresh selves back to work.
