6 Smart Tips to Follow for Improving the Balance Between Your Work & Life

How many times have you felt burnt-out in the past? Probably a greater number of times than you can remember. One of the most common causes of feeling like you’re at the brink of exhaustion in the modern life is improper balance between professional life and personal life. People constantly feel the need to push themselves harder at work to carve out a better life for themselves and their family. As they do so, they end up compromising with their home and personal life more than they should. The result is that their own well-being goes for a toss. Problems like chronic stress, poor physical health, burnout, etc. start to creep in.

If you find this to be the story of your life, then it’s time you remedy the situation at the earliest. While work is important, don’t forget that you have a responsibility towards yourself too. It’s necessary to find the delicate balance between work and life so that neither is compromised. Below are some tips that you can keep in mind to strike the perfect work-life balance:

• Set Your Priorities in the Right Order

Take some time to think about the things that matter to you the most. Is it spending some quality time every day with your spouse and kids, practicing a favorite hobby of yours, or catching up with a few dear friends from time to time? Whatever makes it to your list of priorities obviously holds special significance for you. So now all you have to do is take the time out from your day and week for the priorities that you’ve just set. In order to do that, you’ll have to eliminate all those activities from your timetable that are just eating up your time in vain. This alone can free up a lot of your precious time that you can then devote to what actually matters.

• Create a Daily Self-Care Ritual for Yourself

Nothing helps unwind better than a daily self-care ritual that brings you inner peace, relaxation, and content. Whether it’s calming yoga and meditation, a nice, long bubble bath, or a leisurely stroll amidst the nature, find the time to do what you like and enjoy the most every single day. Better still, allocate a time slot for your self-care ritual, in morning or evening whatever works for you. Choose a time of the day when you feel least distracted. For some it may be at the start of the day before they begin attending to their daily obligations. For some it may be at the end of the day when they’ve already completed all their obligations.

• Go Away for a Few Days Once a While

Weekend breaks are great for short-term rejuvenation, but you do need something more every 3-4 months to completely renew your energy levels. Short vacations are the perfect way to replenish your depleted mental energy from all the long hours that you’ve been putting in at work. Think about the destinations that you’ve always wanted to visit and then try to cover them one by one over the short vacations every once in a few months. Make sure that you keep your travel planning as simple and hassle-free as possible. After all, the purpose of the trip is to help you relax, not work you up even more! Instead of focusing on doing more, stick to doing select things that will guarantee a great time.

• Take Care of Your Physical Health and Fitness

Your physical health and fitness should never take a backseat. Health is the most precious form of wealth that you could ask for, no amount of work or money can make up for the loss of your health. Exercise daily to feel more energetic and productive. Daily physical activity is necessary for maintaining good health. Also make it a habit to include healthy foods in your diet. Grabbing a bag of chips when you’re deeply occupied with work may seem like an easy choice, but doing it every now and then will not be serving your health in any way. Eating healthy food will help you feel good from the inside and give you the energy to do things you love, at work as well as at home.

• Plan Your Work Day in Advance

The first thing that you should do when you arrive at work is to create a plan for that day, meaning all the things that you need to accomplish within the work hours. If you don’t have a plan ready beforehand, you may end up doing either too much or too little. If you do more work than necessary, then you would have likely compromised with your personal time of the day. On the other hand, if you don’t work enough, then you wouldn’t have made the most productive use of your work hours. You want to avoid either of these situations. Plan your tasks and goals for the day in the morning itself so that you do healthy amount of work each day.

• Remember that You Don’t Have to Do Everything

When the burden of responsibilities gets too heavy, it’s necessary that you offload your burden a bit to get enough breathing room. The more you take on, the more you turn up the pressure on yourself. You keep going back and forth to fulfill your commitments, and in the process tire yourself to the point where you’re not able to give your best to your work nor are you able to have a peaceful personal life. When this happens, it’s a good sign that you need to sort through the muddle and commit yourself to a fewer things. If this means that you need to step back from a project at work, don’t hesitate. Sometimes stepping back and slowing down is exactly what you need to set things in right order.