How To Keep A Work/Life Balance And Why It’s Important

The time we commit to our full-time jobs can make it seem like we are married to them. 

We tend to put aside other prior commitments like time with your spouse, kids, family, friends, and others. A Harvard Business School survey said that 94% of employees worked more than 50 hours a week with half working more than 65 hours a week. You need your job to thrive financially and keep your home life afloat, but you are not home enough to enjoy your earnings.

It can make us feel as if we need to choose between work and home. If you are at work more than home, this can cause strained relationships between you and your spouse and children. If work feels never-ending for you, stress can cause headaches, aches and pains, anxiety, depression, and lost time with your loved ones. This can have an ill effect on performance.

Here are some tips on how to achieve a balance between work and your life. 

Release Being a Perfectionist

If you were a perfectionist as a child, you were 100% dedicated to your schoolwork, clubs, volunteer efforts, and more. While you had no time for anything fun, you thought it would all be worth it in the end.

Now that you have climbed up the ladder at work, there is no need to still aim for perfection. If your employers like the work you have given them already, there is no need to go out of your way to continue impressing them. Leave room for fun during your days off instead of doing more work than you need to. As long as you are performing exemplary work, that is what matters. Plus, the mental break which comes with the down time that you enjoy often results in improved performance.

Disconnect From Technology

Technology has made our lives easier when it comes to receiving work updates and emails. You can do work from your own computers or phone compared to only waiting until it is time to go back to the office. However, with all of this accessibility, it feels like the work never stops. Even if you do not have any tasks to do on your day off, group emails or messages are tempting to look at.

In order to prevent phone notifications from ruining your day, turn off your phone. When you leave the house with your family to go to a restaurant, your child’s sports game, or any other fun event, your work-life should not exist at the moment. Focus all of your attention on what is right in front of you. You will feel much better knowing that your work can wait when you are with your family.

Prioritize

Another way to get a clear picture of how to balance work with home life, make a list of your priorities. Everyone’s priorities are different than others, so make sure they relate to what is important to you. Once you make your list, create firm boundaries to devote quality time to your important people and activities.

One of the toughest things you will need to learn to do is knowing when to say “no.” This means that if your boss is giving you too many projects or extra shifts cutting into quality time with your family, say “no.” You can also make it a habit to turn off your email notifications and reply during certain times of the day. This does not make you a bad employee by sticking with your home priorities. You are just making more time to doing things that touch your heart and your family’s.

If you are still struggling with finding a balance between your work and home life, talk to a therapist. Reach out to me today to talk about scheduling your first appointment.