In the first few months, working from home seemed to be fun for many. Imagine working in your jammies beside your furry pal at home and avoiding traffic. However, while it was fun, as the months went by, people who are used to working in the office started experiencing job burnout.
While many companies go on with the work from home set-up, employees are looking for work-life balance tips to avoid burnout. Are you one of them? Then this article is for you.
Over time, the work-life balance definition has evolved. This phrase essentially means that the time you spend at work and other essential life activities are the same whether it is spent with family, friends, or for yourself.
Being balanced in all aspects of life contributes to your overall physical and mental health. This will also enable you to perform well in your work. It also affects your relationships with others positively such as your family, friends, and colleagues.
Work-from-home (WFH) set-ups are sure to continue indefinitely, to help ensure the safety of employees. So knowing how to maintain your balance becomes important.
If you’re struggling to balance your time and energy between your work and personal activities, below are 10 foolproof work-balance tips you should try to be successful in your work:
1. Determine what matters most.
Once you know your priorities, you can rank which activities you should accomplish immediately and which ones you can do later. This will prevent your task from piling up which can overwhelm you and cause you undue stress. Not to mention, this will enable you to accomplish all your work and home tasks on time while maintaining work and life balance.
Knowing what’s important will also prevent you from neglecting time for yourself and other people who need your time and attention such as your family and friends.
2. Do things at the proper time.
One of the dilemmas of people adjusting to the WFH setup is that the time to do secular work and house chores tend to overlap. Others combine these activities which often result in accomplishing neither.
To attain work and life balance, set a proper time for specific activities. For example, devote your 9 hours just for work. Once your time for work is up, stop yourself from checking work-related emails and doing other work-related tasks. The remaining time of the day should then be devoted to personal matters such as doing household chores, grocery shopping, or family time.
3. Establish a self-care routine.
Self-care is important because this will help you cultivate your best self and perform well in whatever you must do. Your self-care routine doesn’t need to be complicated. Some simple routines you can do are to eat healthy food on time, get sufficient sleep, take short breaks during work, and reconnect with your family and friends.
Once you accomplish a big task at work, reward yourself with something you need or want. For example, if you’re craving for donuts, buy yourself some as a treat to satisfy your cravings. Treating yourself will make you enjoy the work you do and will motivate you to accomplish your work goals.
4. Take some tech breaks.
Prolonged exposure to gadgets such as laptops and smartphones have negative effects on your mind and body. For example, this can damage your eyes, cause insomnia, contribute to weight gain, impair your cognitive abilities, and may even cause chronic diseases. This suggests that when you have no work-life balance, you essentially shorten your lifespan.
5. Use your vacation leaves.
When you were working at the office, you would probably use your vacation leaves when you start to feel too overwhelmed by your tasks. In the same way, one of the work-life balance tips you should apply is to file for leave, even if you’re working from home.
On the other hand, if you feel sick, use your sick leave. Don’t justify that since you’re at home, you can accomplish your tasks at work, even if you feel under the weather. Instead, file for sick leave and use this time to sleep, relax, pamper yourself, and whatever else you need to do to recover.
6. Exercise.
Exercising makes your body strong and your mind active. Jog in the morning or evening, or run within your condo grounds. You might also want to do some jump rope exercises if you’re looking for something that’s friendlier to your joints.
The good thing is that even if you’re indoors, you can still exercise regularly. You can watch YouTube videos to help you accomplish indoor exercises. If you'd rather try quick yoga exercises to relieve your stress, this would also be a great idea, especially if you’re a beginner.
7. Meditate.
The pandemic has resulted in an increase in the number of people who suffer from depression and anxiety attacks. If you’re struggling with these, plus stress, another tip to help you achieve work-life balance is to try to meditate.
There are different ways to meditate. The simplest form of meditation you can practice is to observe your quiet time. Look out your window, and pray.
8. Take short breaks.
Is your cat or dog interrupting you while you work? Why not take a quick five-minute break to pet your furry pal and rest your mind a bit from work? After all, managers who encourage work-life balance will allow you to take short breaks. So after sitting in front of the computer for 3 to 4 hours, take a break.
Other activities you can do when you take quick breaks are taking short walks in your condo garden and roof deck. You can also stretch and shake your arms and legs. If you feel tired, take a quick power nap to recharge your mind and body.
9. Limit time-wasting activities.
Sometimes, your lack of work-life balance is caused by wasting your time on non-important activities such as spending too much time on social media. Without setting a limit on checking your social media accounts, you could end up spending an entire hour just mindlessly scrolling your feed.
To help avoid stress, set a time limit of 5 to 15 minutes for checking your social media By doing so, you’ll be able to check what’s happening to your friends without entirely neglecting your work.
10. Be realistic with your workload.
While it may seem commendable to challenge yourself to take on more work since you now have extra time--thanks to no commute--it is also important to be realistic with your workload. Don’t take on more work than you can handle.
Understandably, because of the pandemic, some people may be struggling with their finances. As a result, they are taking on other jobs and businesses, only to realize later that they can’t juggle too many things and keep their life balanced, at the same time.
If you’re guilty of this, assess your priorities and needs. If you’re burdened with all the bills you have to pay as a breadwinner, why not consider asking for help from family or friends?
On the other hand, if you’re living independently, one way you can limit the stress you feel at work is by living within your means. As much as possible, pay your bills on time and avoid unexpected expenses and debts.
Work-life balance is a must nowadays.
If you practice these work-life balance tips, you will be able to perform your best and protect yourself from burnout. Whether the corporate world will shift back and forth from work-from-home to office set-up, you would be able to make a smooth transition.
Dig deep and remember what or who motivates you to get up each morning and work. On top of this, the ongoing pandemic, and piling bills, it is equally important to honor your own need for rest and relaxation.
Take a breath of fresh air whenever you can. Life is too beautiful and short to be drowning yourself in work, household chores, and daily anxieties. Treat yourself to a much-deserved work-life balance, and remind yourself that this is okay.