Collaborative Post
The term work-life balance was coined in the ‘80s when career women would have difficulty juggling their professional life with taking care of their families. In this modern era, work-life balance has evolved to include all genders as everyone has their hobbies and interests outside the work premise. Unfortunately, the integration of technology into our work cultures has made it harder to draw a clear line between personal time and work. It is not uncommon to find yourself taking work home with you. Fortunately, this article will provide practical tips to improve your work-life balance.
Let go of perfectionism
Your biggest and harshest critic is yourself. As you navigate work and responsibilities pile higher, you will realize that life doesn’t follow a straight path. Insisting on being perfect all the time will lead to numerous disappointments the few times you fail to get a task right. Therefore, we suggest you be more compassionate with yourself and take your failures as an opportunity to learn.
Pace yourself
Even though you have a lunch break at work, you can only concentrate for so long before your head starts to feel heavy. Every sixty to ninety minutes, it would be wise to take a micro-break and clear your brain. Short breaks where you visit the bathroom or take a walk help to improve your concentration, retain learning and make your work feel less exhausting.
Avoid working through your lunch breaks
The average adult begins to lose concentration after about 90 minutes of concentrating on a task. Your lunch breaks are there for a reason, even though you won’t grab a bite to eat. Lunchtime is the best opportunity to step away from your desk, get some fresh air and stretch your legs. By the time you get back from your break, your mind will feel fresh and ready to tackle the task at hand.
Learn how to make your work easier
Some tasks at the workplace are repetitive but necessary. If you are not careful, you might find yourself working late when you should be going home to your family. An excellent way to improve your work-life balance is to learn how to make your work easier with digital tools. You can use productivity tools to make your work so much easier. You could also learn tricks like short-cuts to boost your work productivity. For example, if you are handling digital you can learn hacks to convert documents like PDFs. You can learn to use shortcuts and tools to enable copy and paste on a PDF instead of typing each word. These hacks will certainly save you lots of time!
Don’t be afraid to say no
One of the most important soft skills to acquire as a professional is learning how to say no. If you don’t set boundaries early on, your colleagues might take advantage of you and burden you with work they should have done themselves. The first step to setting boundaries is assessing your current workload and prioritising urgent tasks. If you’re a freelancer, make sure to use a booking software to set your availability – and stick to it!
Make your well-being a priority
If you are not in the best shape physically, mentally, and emotionally, your work life is also bound to suffer. Therefore, it would be wise to get rid of anything that causes you stress, anger, or tension. We also suggest you engage in simple habits like meditation, gratitude, and exercise to boost your mood and overall health.
Final remarks
A good work-life balance reduces the frequency and likelihood of burnouts, improves your overall well-being, and improves your productivity. You will also notice you are more mindful while working.
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