In recent years, surveys have suggested that up to two-thirds of American workers have an unhealthy work-life balance. They’ve also shown that about 70% of workers believe they could achieve a better work-life balance by adjusting their work schedules.
If your employer provides you with the opportunity to make changes to your work schedule, you might want to take advantage of this. It could put you in a better position when it comes to enjoying the many work-life balance benefits.
But if this isn’t an option, don’t worry. There are also other things you can do for improving work-life balance by leaps and bounds. We’re going to shed some light on them today so that you will be improving work life balance.
10 Habits For Work Life Balance
1. Make Sure You Know What’s Expected of You
Do you know what your boss is expecting from you when you show up for work each day? If you haven’t ever sat down with them to have a conversation about this, it could be one of the many reasons why your work-life balance is suffering.
Many people blame workplace stress on their managers and their poor leadership skills. You might be someone who has routinely blamed your manager in the past.
But you should realize that this is a two-way street and start a conversation with your boss about their expectations. It’ll show that you’re willing to take initiative, and it’ll also provide you with insight into what you need to do to keep your boss happy each day.
This alone can help you begin to inch your way closer to a better work-life balance. It could also make your company aware of why they need to make corporate wellness a bigger priority.
2. Set Clear Goals for Yourself Each Day
Once you’re on the same page with your boss as far as what they’re expecting from you every day, you can start to set better goals for yourself on a daily basis. Each morning, you should take a few minutes to come up with a list of goals in order of importance.
By creating goals for your day, you’ll put down a strong foundation. You’ll also give yourself a stronger sense of purpose and feel like you’ve accomplished things by the time the day is over.
When you feel this way, you aren’t going to feel guilty leaving work and heading home to enjoy your personal life. You’ll be able to kick back and relax knowing that you did everything that needed to be done.
3. Learn to Practice Good Time Management
Setting goals for yourself at the start of a workday will do more than just keep your day on the right track. It’ll also force you to develop better time management skills, which is going to be another key to achieving a good work-life balance.
If you find that you aren’t able to meet all your goals right away, you should try not to beat yourself up too much. But you should also evaluate why this is.
- You’re getting off to a slow start each day by wasting time drinking coffee and talking with your coworkers?
- Is it because you’re spending too much time in meetings that “could have been emails”?
- Is it because you’re checking your smartphone every 5 minutes and getting sidetracked?
Whatever the case, you should try not to let time slip away from you. It’s going to come back to bite you later by impacting your work-life balance. Improving your time management skills will be one of the biggest keys to finishing everything that needs to get done at work during the workday.
4. Take Time for Breaks Throughout the Day
While it’s imperative that you get better at time management if you want to improve your work-life balance, that doesn’t mean you should stop taking breaks throughout the day. Doing this could do way more harm than good.
That isn’t to say that you should take 30-minute breaks several times each day. But even a quick 5-minute break here and there will work wonders for your physical and mental health. It’ll allow you to stretch out and take your mind off work for a few minutes, which should lead to you experiencing less stress.
You should also make sure you take a lunch break every day. Whether your break lasts for 30 minutes, 45 minutes, or even 60 minutes, it’ll help to break up your day and bring you back in the afternoon feeling refreshed.
5. Find Ways to Prioritize Your Health Every Day
Your health is obviously of the utmost importance, so you should treat it that way. You should find small pockets of time to take care of your health every single day in some way.
Going for a quick walk around the block is a good way to increase your heart rate and provide your body with some exercise. Sitting quietly in an unused conference room for a few minutes is a good way to give your brain a break and boost your mood.
Doing these types of things will make your health more of a priority than it is now. It’ll also give you time to think of more ways to improve your work-life balance.
6. Disconnect From Work When You’re at Home
If you work as, say, an on-call doctor, disconnecting from work when you’re at home might not be entirely possible. But the bulk of Americans have jobs that shouldn’t require them to stay connected to their work 24/7.
As long as your boss isn’t expecting you to be on your phone all the time, you should get yourself into the habit of disconnecting from work when you leave. If your boss has a problem with this, you should speak with them about their expectations and then make sure you’re going to be compensated properly for working both at work and at home.
Disconnecting from work when you’re at home might not be the easiest thing in the world to do if you aren’t used to doing it. But it’ll be essential for those working to achieve a better work-life balance.
7. Schedule Time With Family, Friends, Etc.
When is the last time you spent quality time with your family or went out with a group of friends or sat outside of your house with your neighbors?
If you’re scratching your head right now and trying to figure out the answers to these questions, it’s not a good sign! It suggests your work-life balance is off.
Make it your mission to schedule time with family, friends, etc. so that you can nurture all the relationships you have. If you don’t do this, you shouldn’t be surprised if these relationships start to suffer in the not-too-distant future.
8. Learn How to Say “No” at Work and at Home
Some people have absolutely no problem saying “no” early and often both at work and at home. But others are people pleasers who just can’t seem to say “no” to others no matter how hard they try.
If you fall into the people-pleasing category, saying “no” will be important if you’re going to achieve any semblance of a great work-life balance. Every time you say “yes” to something, you’ll be throwing a monkey wrench in your work-life balance.
That isn’t to say that you can’t ever agree to help someone else out when they need it. But if it seems like you’re always saying “yes” to everything, try to throw a few “no’s” into the mix. You should be able to get the hang of doing it eventually.
9. Ask for Help From Others When You Need It
Do you routinely find yourself in positions where you feel overwhelmed and wish you could get help with things? Whether you feel like this at work or at home, you should stop being the martyr and ask for help.
You might not always get the help you need (you might ask for it from someone who is trying to protect their own work-life balance by saying “no”!). But more often than not, you will find that others will be willing to help you when they see that you really need it.
10. Encourage Your Employer to Invest in Corporate Wellness Tools
It’s not exactly a secret that many American workers struggle with the work-life balance concept. For this reason, there are corporate wellness tools that have been created to help companies boost employee morale.
Woliba has a comprehensive platform that your company can use to help you and your coworkers in improving work life balance. We would love to show you how it can help your company improve corporate wellness.
If your company isn’t using our platform yet, don’t be afraid to recommend it to your boss or your HR department. They might be more than willing to invest in it after hearing all about how it’ll improve employee productivity by providing employee support.
Final Thoughts
Do you wish your work-life balance was a lot better than it is now? Use these habits for work-life balance.
Consider talking to your company about investing in the platform that Woliba has to offer, too. It could make all the difference in the world for you and your fellow employees.
Contact us now to get more information on our corporate wellness platform.
