It’s difficult to manage the responsibilities that come with being an adult. Especially if you have a family. Devoting time to your job is important, but so is your friends, hobbies, social life, and most importantly, yourself.
Attempting to balance all of these things can be stressful and may even affect your job performance. Here are a few tips to successfully manage your work-life balance.
Make time for yourself
It is essential to set some “me time” aside for yourself. Whether it’s just an hour or an entire evening, having some time to yourself is crucial to reducing your stress level.
Try blocking out some time for yourself every evening, say 8-9 PM where you do something you enjoy. Go to the gym for a quick workout, go for a walk with your dog, read one of your favorite books, or simply just watch your favorite guilty pleasure show on Netflix.
Establishing Scheduling downtime for yourself will help take your mind off your work and spend a few moments of time doing something you enjoy.
Be productive on your lunch break
Instead of scrolling through Instagram for an hour, try accomplishing a couple tasks during your lunch break. Have some errands to run? Need to head over to the post office or go grocery shopping? Finish some of these errands during your lunch hour!
You’ll be surprised at how much you can get done during your lunch break. Personally, I go home every day for lunch and do a few things around the house. If I can unload the dishwasher or fold a load of laundry, that’s one less chore I have to worry about after a long day at work.
I understand not everyone has this luxury. You may only have a half-hour lunch break or maybe you live too far from work. However, if you can accomplish even one errand or task during your break, you will have more free time after work to relax and unwind.
Unplug from work
This is essential for a healthy work-life balance. No matter if you’re an executive or a worker bee, it is important to mentally and physically separate yourself from work. This has been increasingly difficult with today’s technology.
However, unplugging from work is a great way to improve your work-life balance. There is no need to respond to non-critical. I understand the pressure you sometimes feel to pick up the phone and respond that these types of emails.
But do these emails really warrant an instant response? Probably not. If this is the case, it is perfectly acceptable to ignore your email and spend your evening with your family or doing something to relax after a busy day.
By instantly responding to every single email you receive, your co-workers will come to expect a quick response from you, even on your vacation. Do yourself a favor and put off those messages that are not urgent.
Use your vacation time
Many workers in our country are “too busy” or “can’t afford” to take time off. Many organizations also make it difficult for employees to use their vacation time that they have worked hard to earn.
In fact, a survey from Glassdoor revealed that only 23% of employees actually use all of their eligible vacation time. And what’s even more shocking is only about 54 percent of Americans use half of their earned time off.
Employees receive vacation and sick time for a reason: to take a step back from work to refresh yourself and relax from the daily stresses your job generates. By using your time off, you will come back feeling rejuvenated and ready to get some work done!
