How to balance office work and personal life: Let’s start by going back, say five centuries. What do you think work life and home life consisted of them before industrialization. Our ancestors woke up at the crack of dawn and went into their Farms where they took care of their domestic animals and plants. In the evening, they would head back to their houses, to have dinner, and to relax and recuperate, their physical strength through the day.
Work and Personal life Comparison with Pre-Industrialization Time
In their world, the things that were defined as work were clear and were done for a period right from dawn to win the chicken went to roost. These included activities that brought food to the table like tilling, collecting eggs, milking the cows and making scarecrows to keep away the birds. others were meant to make the home comfortable like fixing a leaking roof, splitting firewood for colder nights and doing laundry so that beds would have warm
bedding.
Home life on the other hand would include the period that didn’t have work. So when families assembled in the evenings, the parents would tell their children stories and this way, teach them and passed down knowledge. Saturday Men’s Clubs and family church on Sunday can also be classified as home life, as they provide nourishment for the soul rather than for the body.
Granted, life may not have sounded as idealistic as we put it, but the idea is to show that at the path of time, there was a clear distinctive time for work and time not meant for work. In the 21st century, the distinction is not so clear.
Effect of Internet on Work Life Balance
The internet is Bridge billions of people together and has connected 24 hours a day and taking work home is the norm. A global survey done by the way ahead in the gas and oil industry show that 55 percent of workers in the industry took their work home and 38% felt guilty when they did not carry something from the office. At the same time, Next Evolution performance found from their coaching experience that employees in the workplace are 60% as productive as they could be.
Essentially, what’s happening is that we go to work and constantly check and reply to our emails. Do some of the work we’re supposed to do, check our social media and then with our minds still on work go home. when you get home. you spare some time before or after dinner to get working on the work you didn’t do.
As you’re hitting the send button on the report you were working on, your email pings. You’re proactive supervisor has already assigned you worked for tomorrow, all the way to Monday. it seems like a lot of work you think. you shut off your computer, your head fills with mental images of all the reports you’ll have to send and the meetings you’ll have to attend. With this stream of thoughts, You go to sleep.
In the morning, You’re back to work and just as you take work home in the evening. you do the same during In the weekend. as your supervisor knows you’re only an email away. For example, last Saturday as you are enjoying beer, barbecue and a football game with your friends. your boss called, check your email. you said, there was an emergency, a mistake and some work you did and he needed it corrected immediately, just like
that you were back to work.
This is why the conversation on work-life balance is important. It might seem normal, but it’s not healthy that you’re at work all the time. Some of the effects of a bad work-life balance include fatigue and constant exhaustion, increased expectations on the part of the employer, which is why your supervisor can call you on a weekend, increase stress and a reduction in time spent with family and friends.
Tips to Increase Your Work Life Balance
So, how do you balance out your work and home life in a way that’s healthy but still ensures that you keep your job. Begin By finding out how much time you spend in either of these lives, start a diary and during a normal week, login the amount of time you spend doing productive work at the office. make sure to account for time you waste being distracted. How long your chores take and the amount of time you spend unplugged.
Looking at the diary, what seems problematic to you? can you see that you spend too much time at work. How much of that time is spent productively or maybe your problem is more about the fact that the time you’re supposed to be winding down is spent thinking about work. Either way, you need to diagnose the specific problem that’s in the balance of your work and personal lives.
So, what would an Ideal work-life Balance look like for you, how much time do you need to spend at work to ensure that all your duties are met? What would winding down look like for you? you can As far as drawing a pie chart that shows the percentage of time spent doing all your important activities. In fact, you can go as far as getting a key for the pie chart, one that explains what you’re allowed to do when working and when playing. pin this on your desk at work and your fridge at home, then work on achieving this balance slowly and steadily.
Go Slowly with Your Work Life Balance Ideas
One of the main reasons 92% of Americans do not stick to their New Year’s resolutions is because they try to chew too much too fast for you to get the work-life balance. You want to achieve, you may have to stand up to a supervisor and insist that they do not call you with work during the weekend. However, if your weekends are spent correcting mistakes in your week’s work, you and your supervisor may brush shoulders. So what do you start by doing? before clocking out on Friday, You could bruise your work to correct, any mistakes that may have been present. then if your boss does call you to give you more work, you can very creatively Say no, and maybe if your work has no mistakes, your boss won’t call you.
It’s also important to completely unplug when you’re away from work, turn off your computer, and don’t look at your work email. better yet, spend this time, checking out, what’s going on with your friends on social media or spend time doing something with your kids. You may be important at your workplace but not so much that the company would fall down if you had a no phone, no email, no any kind of work calls date night with your partner, your concentration chips, a little every time you look at something new and working, when you should not be, could mean that you’re constantly stressed. self care is another way to improve your work Life balance by increasing the quality of your off time.
Yoga & Exercise for Better Work Life Balance
Exercise makes you feel good and this is because as you pump your muscles, feel-good endorphins are released into your bloodstream. Meditating and doing yoga exercises on the other hand also help to reduce stress. Is they demand that you don’t get intertwined in your mind’s thoughts that you observe what you’re thinking, what would make you feel? Good going to the salon, going for a budgeted and plan for Shopping Spree, Running the track, lifting some weights, or maybe stretching it out.
Ladies go to the salon once every two Saturdays and get your nails and your hair done, and see what that does for your productivity during the work week. Observe how you feel as well. Are you feeling well rested?
Limit Your Interaction with Useless Activities
Finally, to achieve a good work-life balance, you need to limit your interactions with people or activities that waste your time. The study previously mentioned stated that at work, employees are 60% as productive as they should be. Where is the inefficiency?
Observe yourself at work. How much time do you spend on your social media and responding to emails? How much time aimlessly chatting during your playtime, who do you interact with that affects your relaxation? Why do you interact with them?
Could you interact a little Less with these persons? if someone or some activities are not doing you any good in either your work or your home life, cut them off.
We hope that you can see the importance of balancing your work and your personal lives. It has both an effect on how well you perform at work and the quality of your play time. the old adage, all work and no play makes Jack a Dull Boy stands true but caring work to play could also make you a dull and stress person.
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