The digital age has made it easier than ever to stay connected and organized. With smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other devices we can check our emails whenever we need to. But that same digital age has also created a 24/7 work environment that often feels like it’s smothering our personal lives.
Achieving work-life balance is more important than ever before, but many of us don’t know how to find the balance or what specific steps we can take first. Even if you’re working toward a better work-life balance, chances are some days you feel like you have almost no control over your schedule or your life outside of work.
Instead of worrying about finding time for hobbies and friends as well as for yourself at home, take control of your situation today by following these tips on how to achieve work-life balance:
Set boundaries for work and play
People often feel guilty when they take time off or have to stop a certain activity to take care of their job responsibilities. However, if you don’t set boundaries for your work life and your play time, you are likely to end up feeling burned out and resentful.
There are many reasons why you might have to miss out on time with friends or family. You may need to cover a sick relative’s shift or work double-shifts so you can pick up the slack. There may be times when a job promotion or transfer requires you to take on extra responsibility or work hours. When you feel like you have to take time off from certain activities because of your job, you may experience a feeling of uneasiness. This can make it hard to concentrate on your work, causing you to make mistakes or lose focus altogether.
The only way to combat these side effects is to set boundaries for all aspects of your work life and your play time. These boundaries can be as simple as saying, “I need to focus on work when I’m at work and take time off from my responsibilities when I need to focus on my outside life.” Boundaries don’t have to be complex. Simply keep them in your head and follow them as best you can.
Make time for yourself
Work is hard enough without the stress that comes with feeling guilty about taking time off or time to be with yourself. The best work is often done when you’re not in front of a computer screen and when you’re not worrying about work. For many people, this time is taken up by their family and/or their careers.
If you don’t have time to take care of yourself, you’re likely to burn out and feel resentment toward your job. This is especially true if you don’t take time off, or if you take time off but then feel guilty about it. This can cause the cycle of guilt and resentment to repeat itself, leaving you feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, and unhappy with your work life.
Ditch the digital addiction
The digital world has become an overwhelming place. We’re constantly bombarded with articles, videos, tweets, emails, and other messages that are designed to get us to buy things, sign up for services, or send us advice on how to achieve work-life balance. The problem is that most of these messages are about how to find balance between work and life outside of work—but they don’t put any real emphasis on work itself. It’s easy to get lost in the digital world and forget that we’re human beings living in this world.
It’s easy to forget that we have real, physical bodies that need to be nurtured and taken care of. The digital world can distract us from the ways we can take care of ourselves. It’s important to remember that we have worth and value as human beings and that we have a right to feel good about ourselves even when we’re not working. This is especially important during times when the job market is weak or struggling.
If you feel trapped in a cycle of job seeking that you don’t want to be in, it’s important to do everything to break free. This includes ditching the digital addictions that are holding you back from living your life.
Take a stand for physical fitness
Physical fitness is important both for your mental health and for your work life. The way we feel physically affects the way we think and behave. If you’re feeling stressed or sad, exercise will help you to de-stress and feel less sad.
If you’re feeling anxious about work, exercise will help you to feel calmer and less anxious. Exercise has many other benefits for your work life, too. It helps you to be more focused, more alert, and more productive. Working out also helps you to maintain a healthy weight and build muscle, which improves your self-confidence and gives you a boost of energy that lasts throughout the day. Improving your physical fitness doesn’t mean that you have to join a gym and spend hours at the gym working out.
There are many ways that you can improve your physical fitness that don’t require a lot of time. For example, try walking to work instead of taking the car. Or try to walk to the vending machine instead of buying a drink or snack with a higher calorie count.
Protect your brain from the strain of constant work
Your brain is a precious organ that deserves to be protected. It’s important to keep in mind that you have a right to feel good about yourself and to have fun outside of work. You deserve to have free time to see your friends and family, to try new activities, and to explore your city or town. This free time doesn’t have to be filled with fun activities, but it does have to be filled with something that brings you pleasure. Taking care of your brain by protecting it from the strain of constant work.
Here are some ways to keep your brain safe from the strain of constant work: Don’t fear making mistakes. Mistakes are a sign that you’re doing something, so it’s better to be doing something wrong than doing nothing at all. Keep your phone in a charger or out of sight when you’re not using it. Phone use has been shown to decrease the amount of sleep that you get, which can cause your brain to struggle to function.
Conclusion
The digital world has become an overwhelming place and has replaced many of the activities that used to take place outside of work. However, it’s important to remember that we have a right to feel good about ourselves and to have free time to explore our hobbies and interests. In order to protect our brains from the strain of constant work and to better take care of ourselves, it’s important to set boundaries for work, make time for play, and protect your brain from the strain of constant work.
More about Bernie…
Senior Director, Consumer Media Group at Confluent Health – Growth marketing focus on brand awareness, interest and new patient acquisition to our 44+ partner brands and 530+ locations across the US. Accountable for driving yearly business results supported by our consumer strategy and direct-to-consumer roadmaps. The Media team is responsible for owned and paid media as it relates to performance marketing, campaign management, partnerships, website development & support, search engine optimization, relationship marketing, Yext (Google My Business) support, recruiting, email marketing and supporting our partners at the local level.
Chief Cheese – Strategy & Engagement at B2The7 – Helping brands Reach, Retain & Regain customers with Omni-Channel data-driven strategies and tactics that focus on increasing sales, transactions, comps and customer engagement.
B2The7 Photography – Sharing experiences with photography: nature, landscapes, sunsets, flowers, animals and more.
Helping job seekers & recruiters daily…Founder of Careerbarn.com – Bringing jobseekers and employers together since 2000.