Article

How to balance work and life

In our hectic contemporary world, it is not uncommon to hear about the importance of balancing professional and personal life. Truth is, though, despite their best intentions most people will struggle to maintain such harmony and dedicate the right amount and quality of attention to every aspect of their lives.

In our hectic contemporary world, it is not uncommon to hear about the importance of balancing professional and personal life. Truth is, though, despite their best intentions most people will struggle to maintain such harmony and dedicate the right amount and quality of attention to every aspect of their lives.

The emphasis put on work these days often results in inour lives revolving around office hours, and the consequential burnout ends up compromising our family life and the time we dedicate to our passions and hobbies.

Having a life that feels good, though, is extremely important to not only our physical and emotional wellbeing, but also our professional performance.

What Gets in the Way of Work-life balance?

Why is it, that despite their effort, so many people still struggle to find this sought-out alignment of all aspects of life?

As we incorporate new elements into our pre-existing schedule, we sometimes struggle to maintain such balance. Increased home responsibility, longer shifts at work, the birth of a child, all risk making you feel like “there are not enough hours in a day”.

If this is you, do not despair. There are a few steps you can take to look after your well-being by improving your work-life balance.

6 Steps to improve work-life balance

Let go of unreasonable standards

In today’s society, it’s all too easy to get bummed out at the thought we are not performing at the same level as our peers in all aspects of life. The truth is, no life is perfect. Work-life balance is not about striving for perfection, but rather maintaining realistic expectations of much time we can dedicate to our tasks and commitment and prioritizing our activities in a way that makes sense.

No two days will ever be alike, so when sometimes work might be priority one day, taking a day off might be necessary when you have family matters to tend to.

Keep it healthy

When health is lacking, you sadly can’t expect much else to go right in your life. Overworking might often feel tempting, but it is bound to get in the way of your professional performance anyway. Practice honestly assessing your energy levels on a given day/week/et and learn no say no to tasks that feel overwhelming at a given time. Try to sneak at least an hour to dedicate to your favorite activities into every day or every second day. This can be yoga or meditation, listening to your favorite podcast, having quality time with your dear ones, taking your dog for a walk…

Assess your professional path

Generally speaking, work is often considered to be the opposite of play. Lucky for you, it doesn’t have to be. While a certain level of sacrifice is expected (e.g. maintaining a regular schedule, being subject to deadlines, etc.), dreading going to work should not be considered normal.

Depending on your professional field and personal circumstances, such as age, changing careers might feel daunting. Thankfully though, the work market is becoming increasingly flexible and today more than ever it is possible to diversify one’s career. Just check out current job boards in similar fields as yours or consider taking an online course in your desired area.

Be assertive with your co-workers and/or boss

If changing professional paths is not possible or even desirable for you,, you might consider just establishing some boundaries at work. Making your co-workers/employees/boss know when you are available and what you’re available for and demanding them not to overstep those boundaries might help you feel more at ease and in control of your professional life. Stick to those boundaries yourself: commit to not answering emails or taking calls outside of business hours.

Make time for friends and family

This might be counter-intuitive, but downtime can sometimes take some discipline. Committing to spending time with your loved ones is a concious choice you should make every day.

It’s sometimes too easy to cancel dinner plans because something popped up at the office. While there are obviously exceptions when tending to urgent matters, you should definitely not make it the norm.

Use a daily planner app

Maintaining a hectic lifestyle whilst also dedicating time to family, friends, and hobbies can be overwhelming enough - meaning setting time aside for scheduling all your activities can feel like an impossible task. Luckily, a daily planner designed to promote your well-being whilst helping you tend to your daily commitments can help. These apps will work wonders to keep track of your productivity whilst also focusing on other areas of your life that need attention. Organizing your time wisely will bring you closer to your objectives each day.

Paced is a highly personalizable app designed to help you make the best of your productivity whilst not neglecting other important elements of your life. It revolves around your internal clock and aligns with the circadian rhythms governing your body.

By implementing a bio-mathematical model focused on identifying your own productivity & downtime cycles, Paced can let you organize your schedule organically - in turn preventing burnout.

As you keep your sleep diary updated, Paced uses the data to gain insight into your energy levels throughout the day. This way, you will know exactly what time is best for any given activity and will no longer force yourself into exhaustion.

Balancing professional and personal life can sometimes feel like an impossible task, but it does not need to be.

Setting crystal-clear goals, maintaining a healthy social life, and pursuing your interests and hobbies all take some discipline - but are more within reach than they seem.