Work-Life Balance: 8 Great Ways to Build Your Happiness and Success
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“Work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four balls – family, health, friends, and integrity – are made of glass. If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, perhaps even shattered.” ~ Gary Keller
In today’s demanding work environment, work-life balance has become an important topic. Employees want more flexibility and control over their work hours. Businesses have adapted to this demand to attract the best candidates. It’s challenging to achieve a healthy balance because career responsibilities and personal commitments can be difficult to juggle. To gain long-term happiness and success, it’s essential to find a balance between your work life and personal life.
What Is Work-Life Balance?
It is the idea that your personal life and professional life are in harmony. It says that you’re able to successfully manage your workload, maintain a healthy lifestyle, build satisfying relationships, and enjoy leisure activities.
Work-life balance is about having enough time and energy for work and non-work commitments, like family life. It means having time for yourself to do things that you enjoy.
The Importance of Work-Life Balance
Taking care of yourself and having a balanced life should always be a priority. Balance is not a luxury, it’s a necessity. It’s a vital form of self-care. A healthy balance allows you to focus on all aspects of your life without having one completely taking over the other.
Studies have shown that stress can have a serious impact on your health if not managed properly. A good balance can help you to prevent burnout, maintain good mental health, boost your career, and improve your quality of life.
Eight Ways to Achieve Work-Life Balance
At this point, you want to get your work-life balance journey underway. To get you started, here are eight ways to help you achieve the balance, happiness and success that you want.
1. Understand your current work-life situation
Look at how and where you currently spend your time. Use the Wellness Wheel to rate every area of your life and determine which areas are not in sync.
2. Set clear goals for each area of your life
Goals give you direction and keep you motivated. Set clear goals and work on improving each area of your life. What do you want your work-life balance to look like? How and where do you want to spend your time? What action will you take to make it happen?
3. Be intentional with your time
If you want to create better work-life balance, you need to proactively manage your time. To build a better balance, you need to decide how and where you’ll spend your time. Use time management and productivity tools to track you time effectively.
4. Set clear boundaries
If you want to improve your work-life balance, you need to manage your boundaries. You need to be clear with those around you, and yourself, on how you’ll use your time. In the absence of clear boundaries, you’ll likely find yourself with a poor work-life balance.
5. Maintain a balanced outlook
You may be expected to work long hours on occasion, and you might be tempted to dig your heels in and refuse. It’s important step back and ask yourself if you’re being inflexible. Consider whether you get any trade-offs for working those extra hours. Do you get other perks, like time off or work-from-home? Could your dedication lead to career advancement opportunities? Maintaining a sensible outlook will help you to feel less stressed and out of balance.
6. Make time to disconnect and rest
Rest is important. You need to make time to disconnect from work to enjoy other areas of your life. Use your annual leave benefit to take some time off. Make the most of your time off by planning out each day to do the things that you love.
7. Take short breaks throughout your work day
Contrary to popular belief, it’s not productive to work without taking a break. You give your mind and body a chance to rest and reset when you take breaks. This helps you to be more alert and productive.
8. Manage expectations
As you strive to improve your work-life balance, you’ll need to manage expectations. It might take time for you, your family, friends, and colleagues to adjust to your new work-life routine. Manage expectations by maintaining your boundaries and keeping the lines of communication open.
Work-life balance is tricky. To find yours, start by using the steps that we mentioned above. You might have to make adjustments to find the balance that works best for you. When you find your ideal work-life balance, it will bring you the happiness and success that you want.
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