How to Start Work-life Balance with 8 Tips

Whether you’re trying to manage a demanding career, experiencing burn out, or feeling like there should be more to life than work, learning how to balance work and life could be a game-changer. Many people struggle to find the sweet spot between having a healthy work-life and vibrant personal life. This article gives eight great work-life balance tips to help you start the year out right.

Why Is Work-life Balance So Important?

For the working professional, achieving a work-life balance is all about reaching that equilibrium between one's professional life and their personal life. For some people, this is an easy and almost automatic process. Nothing in their lives demands too much, and everything falls into a healthy place. For the vast majority of professionals, however, a conscious decision must be made to shift things around to improve the work-home balance in their lives.

When you have a poor work-life balance, one area of your life or another suffers. There are various signs that this could be the case. You might find it hard to get out of work mode and find yourself devoting unhealthy amounts of time to your job. Doing this can take its toll on family and friendship connections. The strain of overworking can also affect your health.

As the year begins, this is a great time to figure out how to balance work and life and form new habits. Taking some time to evaluate your life and create some healthy rhythms can set the pace for the rest of the year. It matters how you start.

8 Tips for Achieving Work-life Balance

You can improve your life and make changes that are going to impact you for the long haul. Find out how to achieve a healthier balance with the eight work-life balance tips below.

1. Assess your priorities

When it comes to work life balance tips, one of the most important steps you can take to establish a healthy work-home balance is to take a step back to assess your priorities. These may include work, career progression, family, friendships, hobbies, side projects, and the like. Once you have decided what's important to you personally, you can look at how much time you have dedicated to your most important priorities in the last year. You should also assess what impact that has had.

2. Have a new year plan, and stick to it

As the year starts, this is a great time to make resolutions, write out your goals for the year, and even create a vision board. Without a bold but achievable plan for the year, you are likely to stagnate and face many of the same challenges you faced last year. If you need tips on how to stick to your plans and resolutions, you can find some here.

3. Eliminate clutter and unnecessary stress

Even when you have a plan for the year, you can bet that you are going to encounter all kinds of distractions. If you are not careful, these can derail you from success. To stay on course, you can declutter your work and home space, eliminate unnecessary stressors, and start saying no more often.

4. Find supporting tools to increase work productivity

One important way to achieve work-life balance is to make the most of your time at work and your time at home. There are many productive work habits you can start implementing to help you get more done in less time. A high impact change you can make is to restructure your office space to make it more ergonomic. Switching out your traditional desk for a standing desk like the office desk and your seat for a more ergonomic office chair can make a world of difference. Learn more about improving the ergonomics of your workspace.

5. Communicate with the people in your life

As you start to make high-impact changes and decisions in your life, there are going to be some repercussions on your work and personal relationships and interaction. If you have been working around the clock, for example, you may need to have a difficult conversation with your boss or team about making some changes. If your social life has been getting in the way of your career goals, you may need to tell your friends that your availability is going to be limited for a certain period.

6. Schedule time for rest and fun

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Know your limits and make sure that you have time to rejuvenate weekly. If you have been struggling to find some leeway to rest and have fun, it's time to do something about that. Some work life balance tips as you should start scheduling these into your calendar as you do with any other important activities and commitments you have.

7. Remember your health and wellness

A poor work-home balance can negatively impact your physical, mental, and emotional health in the long term. Don’t forget to make healthy habits like proper sleep, good nutrition, and regular exercise a non-negotiable part of your new year. Invest in your mental health by incorporating activities such as journaling, meditation, and talking to a trusted friend or counselor where need be. The healthier you are, the more productive and happy you are going to be, in general.

8. Review your progress often

Don't be discouraged if you can't implement all of the suggestions in one go. Focus on a few work-life balance tips and productive work habits, and review your progress periodically. Figure out what works best for you and your work and home situation, and continue to be flexible and adaptable. Many people fail at their goals and resolutions simply because they forget them after a few months or even weeks.

Conclusion 

Finding a healthy balance in life is imperative. As you figure out how to balance work and life, you might face some unique challenges as a remote office worker. Whatever your office situation is, the work-life balance tips presented in this article can guide you towards a happy and healthier life, personally and relationally. Start the year right by taking action and sticking to it.

Cover image by XPS via Unsplash