Achieving work-life balance
Nowadays work can become so important in our daily life that we tend to forget everything else. It becomes hard to find free time for ourselves, our family, our hobbies… Our desire to succeed professionally is so powerful that we even forget about ourselves and we tend to put work before personal life. Are we able to achieve work-life balance in the society we live in?
We all agree that having a personal and professional balance generates positive effects on physical, mental and even professional health. But the fear of losing our jobs, the harmful culture of work and new working models that allow us to work from home have turned working days into an endless stressful routine from which it is very difficult to get out of.
Some of the advantages of having a work-life balance are, first and foremost, having more time for yourself, as well as having a happy and less stressed daily life. If you manage to have a true work-life balance, you will notice how your mental health and well-being will increase. Work life balance not only benefits employees, also will ensure that workers get more productive workers and lower absenteeism.
Everyone is different and what may work for you won’t be the same as for another person. But specialists agree that there are certain strategies that we can follow to achieve a work-life balance. Have your notebooks ready because you’ll need those tips to have a successful balance between your work and your personal life!
1. DISCONNECT FROM EVERYTHING THAT’S NOT RELATED TO WORK
By not reacting to cell phone notifications you will forge a habit of resilience that will make you more tolerant to stress; the first step to achieve a personal and work balance.
Try to focus only on your work objectives. The time you dedicate to work will be more productive and you’ll end up having more free time when you decide to take a break - also very important to disconnect from the workload every few hours.
2. MOVE & MEDITATE
During your breaks, before or after your working hours find some time to move & meditate. Those are also crucial activities like relaxing, eating, sleeping… it will make a difference on your stress levels. It is enough to take a few minutes every day to exercise the body and calm the mind. It can be in the mornings or evenings, the goal is to awaken your parasympathetic nervous system and get your body going even if it’s only for 5 minutes!
3. DON’T WASTE TIME
A great way to achieve work-life balance is to prioritize your activities and distinguish between the necessary and the dispensable. This way you will be able to identify which tasks are truly important and which ones shouldn't take you more than a few minutes. Be aware of your time and dedicate it to the more important stuff.
4. SAY GOODBYE TO PERFECTIONISM
Don’t be too hard on yourself. Since young age we are teached to develop perfectionistic tendencies - when young, they might be easy to maintain, but as we get older and especially while working, being perfect becomes impossible. The secret to work balance is to let go of perfectionism and welcome excellence, which is not "perfect" but is good enough.
5. SET LIMITS
Try your best to become a master at setting limits, especially if you have a position where you can delegate and Say no to what does not belong to you. You will need to be flexible in certain circumstances, but unless anything really outstanding happens, try to stick to your rule. If you don’t set an hour to finish work, it is for sure that you’ll stay at the office/home more than if you do set one. It’s hard to separate your professional life from your personal life but it will give you more mind freedom and relieve your stress levels!
6. TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF
Observe what works for you and what doesn’t, have enough rest, dedicate to yourself some quality time, try to eat as healthy as possible and exercise regularly. These few elements are fundamental to achieve a work-life balance and all extremely important and they impact your life tremendously long term.
Last but not least, don’t try to change everything from one day to the other. New habits are hard to achieve, so go step by step. And remember, there is no perfect work-life balance. Unfortunately, this may not always be possible, work and free time may vary from week to week, so it is important to identify your schedule and be able to adapt to the constant changes in order to achieve your goals.
And most important, at the end of the day we are the ones who have the greatest responsibility: our own lives. So whenever you feel overwhelmed, give yourself a break and join us at Still Salty Escape for some quality time, you deserve it.
See you soon, amigos!