By Calisha K Spencer, Human Resources Practitioner
Work-life balance? What is that? A term that we may hear about but I’m sure we haven’t taken the time to analyse.
Work-life balance refers to the amount of time spent doing your job versus time spent doing what’s important to you outside of work. Too often our desire to succeed takes precedence, and some of us even pride ourselves on the fact that we do not even have time for ourselves, wearing burnout like a badge of honour.
While showing up in the world as a high-functioning professional looks great, not having our well-being on the priority list puts us at great risk in many ways. I’m sure some of us have endured aches and pains and even non-communicable diseases as a result of poor diet and exercise, having being glued to our desks or not making the time for the other important things.
The amazing thing about creating work-life balance is that you get to determine your priorities whether they are related to work or your personal life. You can tailor your plan to a holistic approach, which can benefit you in all aspects of your life.
Three steps to help you on your journey
Prioritising
This is identifying what you’d like to prioritise and creating a list from highest to lowest. Granted that you may have to ask yourself some tough questions regarding what a typical day may look like for you, and where you may be able to honour your responsibilities, manage your goals and compromise where necessary.
Manage your time
Once you’ve established your priorities, time management becomes a thing of huge importance. A great way to do that is by designating time to tasks and activities. If you are not intentional about time, it will easily get away from you. Imagine there’s a deadline to meet and you end up having an extended telephone conversation, then having to forfeit going to the gym and staying back late so you can bring this task to completion. You should not compromise your exercise often.
Set boundaries
We’ve all been in the comfort of our home, enjoying family time and have had moments where we are compelled to pull out our phone to check work emails or have tried to remedy an issue which we know can best be rectified the next day. Being intentional with the little things like not responding to emails after 6pm or not taking home work which can be done at the office is a start.
Some benefits of creating work-life balance are:
- Reduced stress
- Less errors while performing tasks
- Improved overall health
- Improved physical appearance
- Improvement in personal and professional relationships.
Overall, improving your work-life balance can have a great impact on your mental, physical and emotional well-being. And who doesn’t like to feel good? Imagine reaping the benefits of making a few changes and setting boundaries which can in turn reduce stress and increase your overall productivity.
Commit to trying it. Let us break the barriers of how we were socialised by cultivating healthy habits for ourselves. Having work-life balance is ok. Trust me. You’ll thank your future self for it.
Calisha K Spencer
Human Resource Practitioner
Hello HR Consultancy
Suggest a topic by emailing us: [email protected]