With many people still working from home these days, the line between work and off-hours has the potential to become blurry. But even if you’re in the office, it’s incredibly easy to stay at work too late, bring work home with you, and work when you should be recharging. The work ethic that drives the American dream is still noble and good—but as with anything, you can have too much of a good thing. So you need to know when and how to lift your nose from that grindstone to create a better work-life balance.
If you find that you’re always tired and run-down, or that you get sick often, or that you’re constantly turning down opportunities to spend time with loved ones due to work, then you’re probably working too hard.
Is this you? Take a step back, examine your life, and consider whether the following tips might help:
Set limits on your work.
This could be a commitment to coming home on time every day, or a daily or weekly limit on the amount of time you spend doing work-related things outside of normal working hours.
Say no.
Be realistic about what you can accomplish during the time you’ve allotted. Don’t take on extra tasks that you don’t have time for. It’s better to do the necessary tasks very well, than spread yourself too thin and do everything poorly—or end up sick in bed as a result of stress.
Set expectations.
If you’re really overloaded because your employer expects too much, it’s time to push back and set reasonable expectations. Take control of your work life and your health because no one else is going to do it for you.
Set aside time to relax.
This means different things to different people. Maybe you would love nothing more than to sleep in and do nothing on Saturday. Maybe you’d rather join a sports league or taking up knitting. Whatever it is, build that recharge time into your schedule and stick to it.
A healthy work-life balance requires a delicate balancing act and periodic recalibration. Check in with yourself occasionally to reevaluate and make sure you’re maintaining it. With summer just around the corner, there’s no better time to make sure you’re in a position to make the best of it. And you can’t do that when you’re overloaded with work.
