We all want to be successful in our careers and none of us want it to come at the cost of our social life. The pressure doesn't stop there. We also need to make time to keep fit, eat healthy and enjoy hobbies. When you add it all up there doesn't seem to be enough time in the week – let alone day – to fit it all in.
It's not unusual to be feeling worn down and it's no wonder why either. However, psychotherapist, life coach and trainer, Leanne Hoffman has five tips to help us improve our work-life balance and combat the stress.
Try to put in place these steps and see if your work-life balance improves.
Reduce time-wasting
As the digital world expands and email and social media increasingly becomes a part of professional life, it can sometimes be too easy to get distracted by things unrelated to work. Sometimes this can be a useful way to take a short break from a stressful task, but often it leads to wasted time. This means that you're actually making your professional life more stressful when you think you're doing the opposite, and ironically creating a more imbalanced work-life ratio.Be realistic
If our goals are unrealistic we’ll end up creating more for ourselves to do, meaning we’ll work unreasonably hard and chip into our home lives. It's important to reassess your goals and see if, rather than helping you, they are actually making your professional life more difficult.Set yourself a task-list
At the end of each day, think about where you are with whatever projects you are working on and make yourself a to-do list for the next day. This will enable you to leave your work at work, safe in the knowledge that you're not going to forget anything and therefore don't need to keep obsessing over work problems unnecessarily.Leave work on time
There are times when we need to put in the extra hours to meet a deadline or to prepare for a big presentation, but this should be the exception not the norm. Too many organisations have an "always on" culture, that encourages overworking and risks creating stress. Wherever possible, make sure you leave the office on time, and don't forget to switch off your phone!Let yourself relax
Never let your holiday time lapse; no-one will be impressed if you do and you are actually more prone to stress or health issues if you don't give yourself a break from work every now and then. Similarly, get a decent amount of sleep. A solid night's sleep vastly improves your ability to concentrate and will enable you to get more done the next day, thus increasing the chances of you leaving work on time!Try to put in place these steps and see if your work-life balance improves.
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