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Are you able to keep a healthy balance between your personal life and your work life?
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Doc’s Answer
Setting clear boundaries is crucial for maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Whether you have flexible work arrangements, like telecommuting or flexible schedules, or are dealing with long hours and high workloads, creating a clear separation between your work and personal life is essential. Prioritize tasks, use effective time management, and take advantage of flexible work hours when available to ensure your work doesn’t encroach on your personal time. Remember to unplug after work, use your paid time off, and embrace the idea of work-life integration to balance family commitments, reduce stress, and improve job satisfaction. It’s also essential for supervisors and HR departments to support employees in their efforts to find this balance, as it leads to happier and more engaged employees, reducing absenteeism and turnover in the workplace.
PRIORITIES YOUR WORK TASKS
Plan, so you know what your urgent work tasks are for the day and how long they will take. This will then help you to schedule other work that does not need to be done that day, helping you to keep on top of your workload. If you have too many urgent tasks, you need to take control, talk to your manager to discuss a solution, such as delegation or extended deadlines, if you don’t learn to say ‘no’ the work will continue to pile up.
STRUCTURE YOUR TIME
With a plan in place for work tasks, you can think about how you schedule your time overall. This is important, you will never achieve a good balance if you only ‘plan’ to do things when you have the time – you need to make the time. Scheduling your start and finish times will help to split time between your work priorities, time with family and your hobbies or activities. You may decide that you will leave work on time 2/3 times a week to go to a movie, visit the gym or just spend some time at home, or you may decide to start a bit later, to do the school drop off once a week. Set small, realistic goals, trying to leave early every night may be impossible, but, if you pledge to do it once a week and have an activity planned you are more likely to achieve it. Another important factor is to leave work at work – it can be tempting (especially if you have left earlier than you usually would) to scroll through emails in the evening, but this can soon lead to worry and stress, taking on additional tasks outside of work and generally not switching off.
TAKE YOUR BREAKS
Use your breaks at work to get some personal tasks done, so that these do not have to be done after work. This can really improve your productivity and leave you more free time after the working day. Picking up a few groceries, posting letters or filling in forms or catching up with personal emails can help you get ahead and make the most of your time. You could even use your lunch hour to catch up with a hobby such as walking or reading a good book.
MAKE USE OF YOUR PERSONAL TIME
From annual leave to weekends, scheduling things that you would like to do, will mean that you don’t fritter the time away and go back to work wishing you had got more from your free time. Weekends and holidays are a perfect time to recharge and catch up with family and friends. If going on a holiday or break is not possible, there are plenty of things that you can plan to make the most of this time, from days out at the park, taking up a new hobby or lunch with friends, having things to look forward will give you a real boost. It’s important to plan your holidays, over 40% of the UK workforce do not take their full annual leave entitlement, and waiting for the ‘best’ time, may mean that it will never happen. For those that do take their full holiday entitlement, over 15% admitted to working while on leave. Try not to let work interfere with your personal time, especially when taking a longer break, put your out of office on and let people know that you won’t be available.
SEEK SUPPORT
In the quest for a balanced work-life dynamic, seeking support and mastering the art of delegation is essential. It’s crucial to recognize that you don’t have to manage everything on your own. Reach out to colleagues, family, and friends for support, as they can help you balance work and personal life commitments. Effective delegation allows you to distribute tasks and responsibilities, reducing your workload and preventing burnout. When you prioritize self-care and well-being by seeking support, you not only maintain a better work-life balance but also cultivate a work environment that values employee satisfaction, leading to higher job satisfaction and engagement, reducing stress, and allowing you to enjoy quality personal time and hobbies.
PRIORITIES YOUR WORK TASKS
Plan, so you know what your urgent work tasks are for the day and how long they will take. This will then help you to schedule other work that does not need to be done that day, helping you to keep on top of your workload. If you have too many urgent tasks, you need to take control, talk to your manager to discuss a solution, such as delegation or extended deadlines, if you don’t learn to say ‘no’ the work will continue to pile up.
STRUCTURE YOUR TIME
With a plan in place for work tasks, you can think about how you schedule your time overall. This is important, you will never achieve a good balance if you only ‘plan’ to do things when you have the time – you need to make the time. Scheduling your start and finish times will help to split time between your work priorities, time with family and your hobbies or activities. You may decide that you will leave work on time 2/3 times a week to go to a movie, visit the gym or just spend some time at home, or you may decide to start a bit later, to do the school drop off once a week. Set small, realistic goals, trying to leave early every night may be impossible, but, if you pledge to do it once a week and have an activity planned you are more likely to achieve it. Another important factor is to leave work at work – it can be tempting (especially if you have left earlier than you usually would) to scroll through emails in the evening, but this can soon lead to worry and stress, taking on additional tasks outside of work and generally not switching off.
TAKE YOUR BREAKS
Use your breaks at work to get some personal tasks done, so that these do not have to be done after work. This can really improve your productivity and leave you more free time after the working day. Picking up a few groceries, posting letters or filling in forms or catching up with personal emails can help you get ahead and make the most of your time. You could even use your lunch hour to catch up with a hobby such as walking or reading a good book.
MAKE USE OF YOUR PERSONAL TIME
From annual leave to weekends, scheduling things that you would like to do, will mean that you don’t fritter the time away and go back to work wishing you had got more from your free time. Weekends and holidays are a perfect time to recharge and catch up with family and friends. If going on a holiday or break is not possible, there are plenty of things that you can plan to make the most of this time, from days out at the park, taking up a new hobby or lunch with friends, having things to look forward will give you a real boost. It’s important to plan your holidays, over 40% of the UK workforce do not take their full annual leave entitlement, and waiting for the ‘best’ time, may mean that it will never happen. For those that do take their full holiday entitlement, over 15% admitted to working while on leave. Try not to let work interfere with your personal time, especially when taking a longer break, put your out of office on and let people know that you won’t be available.
SEEK SUPPORT
In the quest for a balanced work-life dynamic, seeking support and mastering the art of delegation is essential. It’s crucial to recognize that you don’t have to manage everything on your own. Reach out to colleagues, family, and friends for support, as they can help you balance work and personal life commitments. Effective delegation allows you to distribute tasks and responsibilities, reducing your workload and preventing burnout. When you prioritize self-care and well-being by seeking support, you not only maintain a better work-life balance but also cultivate a work environment that values employee satisfaction, leading to higher job satisfaction and engagement, reducing stress, and allowing you to enjoy quality personal time and hobbies.
Thank you for the advice.
Sonia
Updated
Laine’s Answer
Hi Sonia,
Great question! The answers that have been given thus far are wonderful. I would only add...think about what work/life balance means to you and what do you want to get out of the balance you're looking for.
For example, is it time away from your work that you value most? Then look for a career, company, or industry where you can work 3 or 4 days per week. Perhaps the balance you're seeking is freedom of mobility so in that case you'd look for jobs that are location agonistic or ones that allow you to travel often or move every 6 months etc.
Point is, "work/life balance" is a great thing but it can mean something different for each person, so figure that out for yourself what the ideal situation would "look like" for you and plan your next steps from there.
Hope this helps!
Great question! The answers that have been given thus far are wonderful. I would only add...think about what work/life balance means to you and what do you want to get out of the balance you're looking for.
For example, is it time away from your work that you value most? Then look for a career, company, or industry where you can work 3 or 4 days per week. Perhaps the balance you're seeking is freedom of mobility so in that case you'd look for jobs that are location agonistic or ones that allow you to travel often or move every 6 months etc.
Point is, "work/life balance" is a great thing but it can mean something different for each person, so figure that out for yourself what the ideal situation would "look like" for you and plan your next steps from there.
Hope this helps!
Updated
Jeff’s Answer
Hello Sonia! Balancing work and life, particularly in a remote sales role, can indeed be challenging. But remember, it's crucial to consciously take short breaks throughout your day, even if it's just for 5 minutes. These little pauses can refresh your mind and boost your productivity. When you're not on the move and working from your home office, it's equally important to clearly define when your workday ends. It's easy for work and personal time to merge into one, but setting boundaries will help you maintain that balance. Keep going, you're doing great!