‘Work/life balance, in its broadest sense, is defined as a satisfactory level of involvement or fit between the multiple roles in a person’s life. Although definitions and explanations vary, work/life balance is generally associated with equilibrium, or maintaining an overall sense of harmony in life’ (Hudson, 2005).
Maintaining a work life balance is a difficult task. Research has shown that employees who have better work life balance tend to work 21% harder than the employees who feel overworked.
Each individual has certain interests and skills that are based on their work-life. Maintaining a proper balance enables the employee to focus on their life and cater to the daily stress that may cause an imbalance.
Here are few steps that might be useful and help you create a balance between your work and personal life.
- Create your priorities and goals: You can list out your own priorities at work and home, check the urgency and have a specific goal and work towards them. Having a set goal helps you to focus on one task at a time and doesn’t become stressful by the end of the day neither does it effect the productivity of the company.
- Friends, family and myself: Spending quality time with your friends, family and yourself is a must. It will help you to release all your stress at work and help you take part in activities that you enjoy. You might be a person who likes socialising with a lot of people or you might someone who likes spending time by yourself; both are equally important and helpful. There might be days when you work overtime, but if this becomes a regular pattern, then it might affect your relationships with others. So, putting family, friends and yourself as your priority is important.
- Take care of your health: Health is one of the most important factors that helps in creating a balanced life. Have proper meals (three times a day), exercise or meditate regularly as it helps destress and increases your energy levels, sleep for seven-eight hours as it gives you a clear mental picture and helps you be more productive the next day.
- Set boundaries: It is necessary to set a limit for yourself and not commit yourself to things that are not important to you or if you are not in-charge of them. If you set a boundary for yourself, it will exclude you from other people over-burdening you with work. Openly communicate your boundaries to your supervisor, colleagues and family. It is good to help your supervisor/colleagues but sometimes it gets overwhelming when the other’s expectations increase and becomes stressful for you. Be assertive, it is okay to say no.
- Importance of counselling: Sometimes we, as human beings, have difficulties in setting boundaries and conveying the same to others. Counsellors help you in bridging this gap that we might face. Counsellors are professionally trained experts who can guide and help you in a way in which you will benefit most from the situation. Talking to a professional regarding issues that you might be facing at work will help have an unbiased view on the situation. This will help you in making an informed decision.