How to Balance your Work Life and Personal Life

Work-life balance is extremely important for your overall well-being. Constant pressure and burden can cause stress and anxiety which eventually leads to burnout. This is detrimental not just to your health but also to the project/task at hand.

For best performance and results, employers must encourage work-life balance. This would not only help them save costs but also maintain a more productive and healthier workforce. So, whether you work at an IT firm or are responsible to look after transactional records at Spectrum payment center especially for Spectrum internet users, the following tips would help you a lot.

#1. Let Go of the Perfectional Attitude

When competitive and ambitious at a young age, you tend to develop perfectionist tendencies to deliver maximum work in a limited time. You juggle between school, hobbies, and other jobs. It becomes a way of life and you think this is how you’ll continue in the future as well. But maintaining the perfectionist attitude/habit is not as easy when you step into the practical life of adulthood. As you grow in your career and build a family, your responsibilities also increase. In such a scenario it becomes almost impossible to achieve perfection in every aspect. And if you’re rigid about your perfectionist attitude, it can be rather destructive. Hence you should let go of perfection and strive for excellence instead.

Also Read: The Ultimate Guide to Balance Your Offline & Online Lives

#2. Meditate & Exercise

We often hold off our gym routines and exercise sessions for when we’d get time off from work. But that’s a totally wrong approach. We need to incorporate exercise into our daily life routine. Just like we eat and sleep, we also need to exercise. It is a great stress reducer as it pumps feel-good endorphins in the body.

It doesn’t matter how busy you are. There are plenty of exercises that you can do even without hitting the gym or laying on a yoga mat. For example, you could start with deep breathing exercises on your way to work. A five-minute yoga and meditation session in the morning can do wonders to lift your mood for the day. These exercises require minimal effort but have major payoffs.

#3. Limit Activities/People that Waste Time

First of all, you need to identify which people and activities are most important to you. This would differ from person to person. So make sure your list is an apt reflection of your priorities. Once you’ve clear about them, you need to draw certain boundaries so that you can devote quality time to the people and activities that ‘matter’. This would make it easier for you to determine what you need to trim or eliminate from your schedule.

If Facebook surfing or cat blogs are a distraction that’s getting in the way of your work, try using software like LeechBlock or Freedom to stay focused. And if certain people are wasting your time with unnecessary gossip or causal talk, try limiting those interactions as politely as diplomatically as possible. Similarly, if your work gang insists on going for drinks when you’re very exhausted, excuse yourself to get a good night’s sleep.

All this might sound selfish. But the truth is, you need to sort out your life routine according to your priorities. If you feel healthy, you’ll be able to work better and faster and thus have more time for the high-priority people and activities in your life.

#4. Leave Work at Work

If you are not able to leave your work at work, your personal life will suffer because of it. And by leaving work at work, we mean both physically as well as mentally. You need to develop a mental on-off switch between your office and home. Engaging yourself in transitional activities can help in this regard. For example, you could start reading a book or listen to music on your way back from work. When you schedule such activities right after your work hours, you prevent yourself from spending those extra fifteen minutes at the office (which usually turn into an hour or two).

#5. Ask for Help

If you’re overworked and it’s affecting your physical and mental health, there is no need to suffer in silence. It is okay to let go of that Superman/Superwoman image and ask your boss/colleague for help. Untenable work demands can be eased but it would require you to be a little assertive. No one would notice your burden unless you explain your situation to them.

And if you still find yourself experiencing chronic stress and anxiety, don’t shy away from consulting a therapist or counselor. There is a reason the employee assistance program is offered to you. So utilize it to overcome your anxieties.