A recent Forbes survey showed that over 60% of respondents work remotely all or some of the time. With this being the new normal for most, maintaining a healthy work-life balance is essential.
A healthy work-life balance is important for enhancing overall wellbeing. It not only reduces stress but also helps prevent burnout, ensuring you remain engaged in your work. By prioritising balance, you’re more likely to find satisfaction in your job, which boosts productivity and motivation. This balance supports your physical and mental health, allowing you to enjoy both your personal and professional life to the fullest.
In our blog, we offer practical tips on setting boundaries, staying productive, and prioritising your wellbeing. Use this to reflect on how you're managing your time and focus on creating healthier, more balanced habits.
Prioritise and manage your time
Using your time appropriately and effectively is key to managing a healthy work-life balance. You may find yourself swamped with tasks to do, therefore you must prioritise your time with what needs to be done now and what doesn’t. This way, you can allocate your time accordingly and keep organised to make sure you don’t fall out of routine.
So, a good way to manage this is to prioritise those tasks into four categories:
Urgent and important
Important but not urgent
Urgent but not important
Neither urgent nor important
As well as prioritising your time, you must also manage it effectively. Keeping a calendar or timeline of your tasks and meetings is a great way to manage it and ensure you stay on track and don’t merge your work and personal time into one. You can do this through your Outlook or Google calendar or via other online calendars such as Team Up.
Have set work hours – that you stick to!
Having clear guidelines for when to work and when to call it a day will help you maintain a healthy work-life balance. Not having set work hours can have you regularly working until late at night, so set work hours for yourself and do everything you can to stick to them. Of course, just as when you’re in the office, there may be times when you’re required to work a bit later but try not to make this a regular occurrence.
Tip: Removing work email apps from your phone can help you keep to your set hours by reducing the temptation to use them.
Keep a dedicated workspace
Having a proper workspace will separate you from work and personal time and create a better work environment to concentrate in. As nice as working in bed can be, you will find yourself easily distracted by that Netflix show you want to put on or that notification on your phone beside you.
A dedicated workspace is somewhere you can work from effectively and adapt to suit the needs of yourself and the work you do. This is usually somewhere with a desk for your laptop or computer screens, an appropriate chair to support your back and any other equipment you need to complete work. It’s important to keep your workspace tidy because a messy desk can impact how well you work and your ability to focus. If you don’t have the correct equipment, ask for what you need from your employer.
If possible, try to keep your workspace away from areas you normally relax in to help separate your work and home life and make it easier for you to switch off at the end of the day.
Take a break and manage your mind
It’s easy to neglect your wellbeing and put it aside to focus on work, but it's important to look after yourself. Taking a break and getting fresh air and movement will help refresh your mind, refocus, and avoid building unnecessary stress, even if it's just in the garden or going for a walk.
You may think that working nonstop is the best way to be productive, but it’s quite the opposite. Not stopping to have a break will lead to paying a price, whether that be a decrease in quality, safety, or efficiency. We recommend taking breaks in short capacity. Having 5-10 minutes to yourself a few times throughout the day will boost your productivity – but don’t forget to still take your lunch break.
However, if you feel you are struggling and would like some more advice, here are some useful resources and websites to provide extra information and directions for support:
So, take those breaks. Whether you feel you can afford it or not, it's important to rest and free your mind from constant work. You may not have time to sit and rest every day, but do your best to at least give yourself a lunch break.
Working in a job you love can help you achieve a better work-life balance. Contact our recruitment teams today to see how we can help you find your perfect job.
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