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(The importance of work-life balance and how to achieve it is written by Aislinn Elvia)
Quarantine has been hard and great at the same time. On the one hand, we can’t go anywhere or meet up with anyone. Yet we have time to do some home projects and spend more quality time with our loved ones. Now, reality sets back in as states in the U.S. start to open back up and employers start opening up shop again.
I started a new position in March, worked for five days, then went into seven-week quarantine and just went back to work this past week (needless to say, I barely remembered anything 🤣). I think the hardest part for me is the fact that I don’t get to hang out with my husband and my pup as often as I used to and now it almost feels like I have to schedule everything.
I’m here to give you all some tips for when we all eventually go back to work (I know 😥) and how we can balance work and family.
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The importance of work-life balance and how to achieve it: Overview
- The importance of having work-life balance
- Separate your time
- Plan activities
- Disconnect from screens
The importance of having work-life balance
Work-life balance is extremely important in this day in age. But what’s also important is maintaining it. There are multiple reasons why this is important to do so:
Leads to a happier and healthier life
Work-life balance is important for multiple reasons. having balance is essential for leading a healthier life. There are so many benefits of having that balance, one of them being that it can help improve your mental health. When you are overworked you lose focus on what makes you happy. You become too deeply involved in your work life that you can’t see past it.
Less health problems
Not only will you suffer from less health problems, but you will have more time to do what makes you happy. You can spend more time with your family or doing certain hobbies you love.
Increase Productivity
It can drastically can it help improve your mood and your attitude but it can make you more productive. Having that break from work can clear your mind and set you up for a fresh new day at work. Taking that break will mean you will have fewer burnouts which will then lower your stress rate. Then when you do take a break and come back fresh, it makes you more productive.
Job enjoyment
If you have less burnouts at work and you are less stressed, then it means you will find work more enjoyable. Taking time away from it will give you the space you need before having to return to it.
How to achieve work-life balance
Achieving work-life balance can be done in many ways. Different people will need to do things different but here are just a few techniques you can work on:
Separate your time
The first tip is to make sure you have allotted times for work and family time. For example- us Americans typically work an 8-4/9-5 job which takes up 40 hours of our week. When we’re finished at either 4p or 5p, that’s it. Don’t take your work home with you, leave all of it at the office where it belongs.
For some of us, such as lawyers, that may be difficult for you have to build a case for your client which may take up more of your time. In that case, I suggest scheduling certain hours of the day when you work from home and then that’s it, the rest of your time is dedicated to family. For example, if you have to work from home for a couple of hours work in the morning until early afternoon (7/8a- 12p) that way you can spend the rest of your day with your family. So many people put career before their loved ones and unfortunately that causes a lot of separations.
Families need to feel important in your life so it’s vital we give them our full attention when our workday is finished.
Plan Activities
During the week, or even that previous weekend, plan ahead for the upcoming weekend what sorts of activities you could all do together. Currently, it’s a little challenging to plan a cool trip or outings due to the virus. However, there are tons of other activities you can do with your family:
- walks around the neighbourhood
- game night
- camping out in the living room
- making smores around a fire
- movie night with popcorn
- playing sports in the backyard
- zoom family reunions
We can even make chores seem fun. Have time dedicated to cleaning the house and to motivate your kids you could offer golden tickets to win a certain prize or turn the chores into a treasure map to hidden treasure. Almost make it into a game without them realizing that they’re doing house chores.
Disconnect from Screens
Phones, laptops, kindles, anything with a screen has almost become an extension of ourselves. When I take a walk and look around, almost everyone I see is staring at their phone. I’m not excluded from this for I catch myself staring at my phone when I go for walks to catch up on some news or reading blog posts. When we come home from the end of the day, set a time when you turn off your phone and disconnect.
I started to utilize this technique and it has helped. I sometimes catch myself using it after hours and then I immediately put it away. It’s almost become habitual for us that we have to be staring at our phones and socialize that way as opposed to talking to the actual human being that’s sitting next to us. This takes time to rewire the brain to shut off from our devices, yet it’s so much better, in the long run, to give your family your full attention.
No amount of money every bough a second of time
-Howard Stark
Conclusion: The importance of work-life balance and how to achieve it
Thank you for reading The importance of work-life balance and how to achieve it. I hope you have found some use from this post! Let me know how you work on maintaining your work-life balance.
Work – life balance is all about find out what is right and what works for you. What might work for one person, may not work for another. But just remember that is so important to separate that time from when you are working and when you are not.
About the Author:
Aislinn runs a blog called Peace Love Harmony
- Instagram: @aislinn_elvia
- Twitter: @aislinn_elvia
- Pinterest: @aislinnshort
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Such lovely ideas! I am dreading going back to being fulltime at the office, so it truly resonates with me! Thanks for giving me the feeling that it’s going to work out again! 😁
These are some great tips we can apply to spend our time in a better way and organize our writing plans…
Great post. I just recently did a post with tips for working from home, and we have a lot of the same ideas!
These are great tips and well laid out plans. Disconnecting from screens is something I really need to work on
It’s a great tip. Thank you for sharing
This is super helpful! I do struggle to switch off from work but I’m working on it 🙈
These are some really good tips, and it’s now a good time to start thinking about what we want our lives to look like as things begin to go back to normal.
I love the idea of intentionally blocking out time to spend quality time with loved ones. I think that’s something we often forget to do!
Everything in moderation! Can’t play too hard nor can you work too hard.
Neat quote at the end too, coming from a big Marvel fan here. I think I remember Tony saying that in Endgame though
Johnny | Johnny’s Traventures
Great post! I especially agree with #1 and #2 and think they’re super important!
Very useful post and tips especially in these challenging times! Thanks for sharing
I always struggle with turning off technology because my partner lives in a different state to me, AND does the night shift – so our peak talk times is usually when I should be sleeping! I think I’m going to have to start putting some restrictions in soon haha Really good list!
These are some great ideas, I have definitely found my daily walks help me break up my day and setting times for work is definitely helping
These are all such great tips! I need to be better at when to walk away from work, hopefully thid was the motivation I needed! xx
Some great tips here! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Emma – http://www.lifeofemmax.co.uk
Great points. Disconnecting is the hardest part. But so necessary
These are great tips! I try and follow a few of these but I want to try to follow all of these!
Disconnect from screens is a constant reminder needed for me!
This post is filled with great tips, especially now when we’re stuck mostly at home without many options to get out and about. Daily walks are a must for me when the weather is nice!
This is a great post – balance is so much more important than anyone things!
Love this post!! You’re so right about having a work and family life balance!! Great tips thanks for this!!
Great post!! Love daily walks especially with the weather getting better where I am.
Such a great post! I love the tips, they are great. It’s hard to figure out what to do with all this time we now have at home. I personally need to work on disconnecting from screens. LOL. Thanks for sharing.
These are great! I always try to stick to a schedule, or I find myself getting lax in my to-do lists!
Since isolation, I’ve dove head first into my blogging. Definitely hit burn out MANY times because of this. These suggestions are GREAT tips to use when wanting to balance working hard and living your life. Great job, Amanda!
Setting boundaries is so important. Don’t be fooled into thinking working long hours will make you indispensable. You’ll just end up burned out. After a certain point, you are no longer productive. I’d rather work a solid, productive 8 hours.
Great post! This is super important to do! My supervisor literally talked to me this morning about how I had to be attentive and answer the phone when my client called on Friday (we had off for the 4th of July weekend). It’s tough when you receive calls during off hours (since I’m a social worker), but when we have off I make the most of it and leave my work for when I return
Great post! I try my hardest to follow this as I’m a social worker and I’ll get calls on the weekend of at like 9pm. When the work day is done, and I get home, that’s my time and not work time.
I love it! We have to put our loved ones first before our work. Even if we have tiny times, just spend it like the rest of our life. Anyway thanks for the loving post! xx
I definitely needed this post! I have no uni until October and i’ve got a few weeks off work too so I’ve been trying to get a lot of blog related work done but have been struggling to find the balance between being productive, and resting / having fun! I’ll take these tips on board and hopefully will find I manage my time a lot better over the coming weeks x
Roni | myelevatedexistence.com
You always have such good advice! Obsessed with your blog it’s fab!
Amber x
I struggle with this so much, and I suspect it’s going to be worse when I head back to work. Teachers are fully expected to work outside contract hours and given more to do than can reasonablesreasonably I’m be finished in our contract timertime. Hoping to improve on it much more this year. Thanks for the tips!
These are lovely tips to put into use on how to maintain a balance between our work, school and other things.
These are fab tips. I could definitley do with disconnecting from screens, I’m terrible for picking my phone up at night to do just one more thing. Thanks for sharing
I’m guilty of spending too much time on my phone. I like the idea of scheduling activities 😀
It can be so difficult to get the right balance, can’t it? I definitely agree that once you are home then you should leave work at work.. Sometimes easier said than done though!
Great post!
Aimsy xoxo
Aimsy’s Antics
Wise advice. I need to work more at making local plans! Thanks for the tips.
Thanks for the tips. Returning to full time teaching soon but determined not to return to the manic life that this used to entail! 😂
They’re really good tips! I think a lot of people assume “time in = work out”. But by increasing productivity it can lead to much better quality work.
I’ve been working from home since March. Once back in the office I’m sure it’ll be easier to separate the two. I’m looking forward to being back at my desk!
These are some great tips. I used to really struggle to get the right balance but I think I’m getting there now.
Hi Aislinn and Amber. I completely agree. A healthy work-life balance is essential – far too many people become work-obsessed, for whatever reason, and then their health or relationships (or both!) suffer. Remember that in the UK now you have the right to request flexible working (subject to certain conditions). This doesn’t mean that your employer has to agree, but they must at least consider your request.
Taking time off from screens is so vital, and probably even more during this lockdown season. And despite having worked for years, I still don’t think I’ve figured out the exact right balance for me! 🙂
These are great tips lovely, getting that life/work balance right is so important! x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
These are really helpful! I’m doing a lot of work from home at the moment and really have to tell myself to switch off from it! Thanks for sharing
Work life balance is so important! It is also so hard these days since we live and work in the same place. Love your tips!
Establishing a work/life balance is tricky but so important! For me, I found that if I came home without something I needed to do, I’d end up rehashing my day at work, focusing on the negatives and then getting nothing done all evening. By setting myself a simple task to complete as soon as I got home, I was able to separtate my home and work lives far more easily. Greatpost, thanks for sharing!
Thanks for this. The point on disconnecting from screens is an important one. With working or studying from home, everybody will have seen an increase in screen time over the last 6 months or so.
On a wider note, one thing that’s not addressed in this article is what we actually mean by work-life balance. It probably means different things to do different people. For some it’s about time management and for others it’s about “what I have to do (but sometimes don’t like)” vs. “what I want to do (or enjoy doing)”.
What does work-life balance mean to you?
Some great tips here. A work/life balance is super important!! I’m quite good at separating my time. Sometimes I have to work a bit later if I need to complete a task but, once that’s done that’s it, I start my own personal time. Time away from screens is a great idea. It allows for quality time with family and avoids distractions x
Such a great post and these tips are vital right now. I work from home and now my partner is home too and we are having to work out new ways to manage our time. I’m used to having a schedule, but now it’s even more important to separate work from down time, leisure, and time with loved ones. And of course these times are not usual! Here in the UK we are back in lockdown so trying to work around that is tough! Thanks for a great read and I hope the new job goes well
The right balance will let you relax and enjoy yourself. Not to mention, it will take trial and error until you find the sweet spots. Then something comes up and you have to start it all over. Either way, finding the right balance is extremely beneficial in every sense. Great post!
Yes! It’s still a goal for a lot of us to balance our work and personal lives. It’s true what you said about leading to a happier and healthier life. Quarantine is awesome for the reason that you can do work in the comfort of your home but at the same time needs more discipline and time management than ever. Great post! Thank you for this!
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