Working hard has become the motto of so many office goers that they almost forget what it’s like to have a life outside of work. Demanding office tasks and targets can take its toll on the overall “work-life” balance, which could sometimes be almost negligible. With changing work atmospheres and increased awareness among employers and employees about the necessity that is “work-life balance”, more importance is being given to achieving a comfortable one. Work-life balance is not set in stone. It most definitely varies from person to person. Balancing work and life could make a person like a trapeze artist, maintaining a fine balance under precarious conditions. It needn’t always be a difficult task. So here’s a look at how you can simplify his life and fit the pieces of the work-life puzzle perfectly.
There could be a significant difference between the thought process that goes behind charting out your work-life balance. It could be an equilibrium between your work and leisure activities, or it could be completing all your work in the office thus leaving a peaceful time to enjoy with family at home or other leisure activities. So, there’s no definitive pattern to it.
You must be aware of what a bad work-life balance looks like as well. It could feel like you’re exhausted all the time. You may often miss the changes that being exhausted brings to your life in the midst of endless work. It would feel like you’re tired all the time and overlook the fact that you’re actually on the verge of a breakdown. By the time you notice the changes, it could be too late. A bad balance may also perpetuate like a constant worry only about your work. No life outside of it, not engaging in things that you love or it could be the opposite, only involved in leisure activities and not paying attention to the work. This would dampen your performance at the office and lead to an unwanted cause of worry regarding the work front.
So, now that you have an idea about the good and the unsuitable work-life balance, here are a few points that you could consider in developing and maintaining a “healthy” work-life balance.
- Prioritize what’s healthy and what’s not – you can get pensive about what a healthy balance means to you. There would be a few permutations and combinations that would be comfortable for you and then try to ease into that schedule. It may be equal time for work and for leisure as well, there are no rules! Take ample time to understand what works best for you and prioritize accordingly.
- Gather information about new avenues outside of work – in this fast-paced world, you can quite often miss out on developing things like new activities, new health trends such as e-healthcare, and new engaging tasks. This could be an exciting adventure of discovering your strengths outside the workplace or rekindling any lost skills or skills that may have been gathering dust for a long time. Learning a new skill is an excellent way of waking up those brain cells and most certainly, a remarkable method of keeping your mind alert. It has been noticed that a bad work-life balance has a bad influence on the overall health – physical and mental aspects. Hence, employing these methods, it can not only steer you towards a better lifestyle but also help positively towards your health.
- Keep a record of how these changes have helped – journaling this journey is a good idea. When it comes to something new, the mind needs some reassurance from time to time to keep the momentum. Plus this can provide you with any improvements or changes that need to be made, any shortcomings that need to be rectified, and what can be done differently to spice up things a little. It’s also a way of knowing the progress and a good comparison of the past and the present.
- Take a break from moving at a rapid pace – sometimes, a break is all you need to bring the “healthy” into the healthy work-life balance. You often don’t realize that what you require is to take a step back and reflect on what’s important and what’s not.
These simple changes can bring a whole lot of a difference into both your professional as well as personal life thus encouraging you to work towards a very achievable healthy work-life balance.
