Become the director of your own life with these work life balance tips.
Following up on our article Achieving a Work Life Balance, here are some further work life balance tips to be able to organise your day better and have time for the more fun things in life like seeing friends and family. An ideal day should consist of eight hours work, eight hours play and eight hours sleep but how many of us achieve this? Make yourself a priority with these five suggestions to bring more balance into your day.
Set aside some ‘me’ time
It’s important to set some ‘me time’ aside in your day to do something you enjoy. It doesn’t have to be extravagant or cost any money. It could be as simple as taking a long soak in the bath or reading a book. In a world full of never-ending chores or work tasks, it’s often difficult to carve out quality moments to spend by yourself. This time allows you to regroup and feel rejuvenated again with this work life balance tip.
Leave work stress at work
If you are working in a toxic environment, it is healthy to release work stress by venting to other colleagues you trust or to your partner when you arrive home. It’s important for you to feel validated by others. However, try to keep this negativity to a minimum. When you are away from work and with people who love and care for you, the last thing you want to do is take your job frustrations out on your family and friends.
Learn how to say no
In both your personal or professional life, it’s important to say ‘no’ to people and learn how to prioritise your time. It’s easy to become the go-to person at work for those extra tasks people don’t want to do or left alone doing everyone’s dishes when you get home at night. Whether you are the CEO, a receptionist or stay at home dad, don’t be afraid to assert yourself and let people know that your time is also important.
Set personal boundaries
By setting personal boundaries, you will find that you have more spare time available and can have more of a work life balance. When at work, avoid time wasting tasks like checking your social media accounts, reading news sites and answering personal emails or phone calls. By restricting yourself to these activities on your breaks, this gives you more time to finish your work by a reasonable hour and have more leisure time.
Leave the technology at home
With portable devices such as mobile phones, tablets and netbooks allowing people to access the internet when they are out and about, lying in bed or on holidays, this has severely impacted on many people having a work life balance. Tips on bringing back the harmony can mean simply leaving the technology at home or disabling internet access from your mobile so there is no possible way you can check your email.
Striking a balance between work and play is becoming even tougher in these technological times where is a blurring division between the two. More people are bringing work home via portable devices. But a lack of balance can not only affect your productivity at work, it can also affect your relationships outside of the workplace. Take heed of these work life balance tips and you can bring more equilibrium to your day.