10 secret tips to achieve a healthy work-life balance
Despite the incessant pursuit of achieving a perfect work-life balance, not many of us have truly accomplished it. Although most of the professional profiles in today’s time have become extremely demanding and we’ve to put the best foot forward almost every day, the old saying, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” still holds true.
The numerous researches done by experts in this field has it that long working hours and never-ending-days lead to compounding stress, and it is exceedingly damaging. It is tampering personal relationships, mental and physical health and overall happiness.
Although work-life balance means different to different people, here a few tips shared by some of the health and career experts that you must know:
1. Perfectionism is an illusion: The first step while striving to achieve a work-life balance is to let go of the illusion of perfectionism. People who are overachievers during their childhood find it extremely difficult and demanding to be as perfect as they were once. You have to understand that the times are different. As a child, you had fewer things to do on your plate, however, as a young professional there are ten different tasks you need to complete in a day. Hence, don’t make yourself struggle to be the fabulous-flawless self always! Similarly, when you delegate tasks, don’t sit on the same thing to do it again because it’s just good enough and not flawless!
2. Unplug the technology– Once you’re home, unplug from the technology. Although the technology has made the life easier, it also has made a person accessible all through the day. But you should learn to establish boundaries at work. Leave work at work, as many lifestyle experts would suggest, it is extremely important to maintain a harmony between the professional and personal life.
3. Meditate and Exercise: Even if you have a very busy routine, take some time out for exercises to keep your physical health in place. The old saying, a sound mind resides in the sound body still holds true for each one of us. This is the only key to keep the physical ailments that might crop in because of excessive work-stress at bay!
4. Track Your Time: Prioritize your time, the time that you spend in socializing, in scrolling the feeds on different social media accounts or in talking to different people at work on in general. Keep track of how you spend your .ime and prioritize the time according to yourself.
5. Make Your Life Easy: Many pieces of research have it that we’re happier when we have a sound support system around us. Hence, don’t shy away from asking for help when you need it. Ask for help from people at work or friends or family members. Reach out to people and vent out something that’s bothering you. Sometimes the demands are heavier than what our shoulders can bear, embrace it and ask for help. Learn to make your life easy.
6. Make Plans With Family: Be active in making plans with your family and executing them. The time that you spend with the family is the time that will release the stress that got accumulated from the long working hours. Hence, make plans with your family. Go out on a movie date or dinner. It won’t take more than 3-4 hours, but it will really work as a stress buster.
7. Take a holiday: Apart from the small outings in the form of movie dates or dinners, you should take some time out and plan a holiday with friends or family. Travel is the best therapy. Not only it releases the stress, but also it increases your productivity.
8. Set your own rules: Don’t allow anyone to boss you around, set your own rules. Rely on your own intuition and do your things your way. There will always be a long series of should’s and have’s. But since each of us is different, something that might have worked for another person might not work for you. It happens a lot of times, so don’t rely on others intuitions and opinions, rather form your own!
9. Work smarter, not harder: “Work-more-sleep-less” might look very industrious and inspiring especially when the role models are influential personalities, but again, it does not work for everyone and all the time. Instead, work smart and not hard so that you can get it done quickly without sacrificing your sleep. It is because sleeping less than average 8 hours a day will invite problems like excessive stress, anxiety and other disorders that will tamper your productivity. Hence, never sacrifice your sleep for anything in the world!
10. Start Small and build from there: We’ve all been there, setting out bigger targets and not able to see it through after a day or two! Be it a crash diet that crashes after second day or new year resolutions that fizzle out by the end of January; we’ve all been there and done that. It’s the same with the struggle we go through for achieving a perfect work-life balance, says Carrie Brooks, the lifestyle expert. So, instead of making big unachievable plans, be smart, start small and build from there.
Neglecting your personal life is like an invitation to mental health problems like anxiety, stress and depression. Understand that work is not life, it is a part of life and let it be that. Don’t live for work! You owe yourself and your family a little more than that. Now is your time to work on achieving a perfect work-life balance, don’t procrastinate it!
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