Striking a work-life balance in today’s competitive world is fulfilling, engaging, and a desirable act. In our daily life, we see employees and colleagues who are exceptional in their careers while keeping their families integrated and happy. Their mental health is phenomenal as well as their physical health. They take time for meditation, for social and family gatherings, their projects are always on time and they seem to be at par in every aspect of life. And it’s not like they are faking it. They have truly attained that balance that is crucial to lead a happy and successful life and while we see ourselves struggling to keep up with the ever-growing demands of personal and professional lives and dealing with the anxiousness that follows it. So what is it that they are doing differently? How their planning and execution of their daily routine is different from ours and how they are able to accomplish more than us. Let’s have a look.
1. They Build Connections
In today’s fast life, employees are longing to strike a balance in their professional and personal lives. Meeting the demands of their competitive jobs, striving to get a promotion, working late hours, and duly performing the duties of a family man/woman as well. This is a lot to ask for from one person. Nobody can do it all, not all the time. So before it gets on your nerves, you need to have a support system, a genuine relationship to whom you can turn to and vent out the exhaustion of doing it all. When you have a strong connection to rely on, it relieves anxiety, reduces depression, enriches your life, and enhances life expectancy. It’s empowering to build connections, social support, and relationships that can benefit your confidence, career and lead you to a life full of fulfillment.
2. They Develop Mindfulness
To achieve work-life balance, there are some mindful concepts one needs to understand and comply with. Earlier, the term work-life balance only included managing families and careers at the same time. Now it covers some important concepts of our professional lives such as, time management or imparting time between both entities, stress management that can help you deal in case of any disparity, and of course, burnout prevention. So when your energies are focused in the given moment and you are aware of your internal and external capabilities at the best, the ability is known as mindfulness. Surely, there will be several other concerns and distractions, or there may be instances when your office and personal life mingle and the line obscures but people who are more mindful of themselves and their surroundings are more prone to strike a healthy balance in their life.
3. They Maintain Boundaries
Maintaining and communicating boundaries at both work and personal life can help an employee and a family man/woman to unplug from the daily routine and take time for himself/herself. This includes dividing time at work, with family, and on your own sanity. Inform your clients and colleagues of the hours you will be available for them. Learn to say ‘No’ whenever you feel that your work demands keep growing. Of course, manage your time to prioritize first but when it seems like water is going up the bridge, make sure you have the guts to say no. In that way, you will be more up to say ‘yes’ to the stuff that truly matters and add to your performance. When at home, make sure nothing from the work disturbs your time with them. And between these two major responsibilities, these balanced people always take time for themselves to spend in the natural light to exercise, meditate and revive.
We all know that work-life balance is vital for a healthy and successful life but when we try to maintain a healthy balance, the term and its meaning seem quite elusive to achieve. As our professional life progresses, the demand for never-ending work dominates our days and the disparity it causes on the other side leads to discontent and relapse, thus disturbing the healthy balance we wanted to achieve. We hope these tips would help you counterbalance your personal and professional life or at least minify the gulf between the two.