Working from home (WFH) is the new normal whether we like it or not. Due to the pandemic and the resulting stay-at-home orders, millions of Americans are spending the entire day inside. For some, this has resulted in a less productive workday as the distractions range from family / roommates engaging with them to easily appeased hunger pangs. For others, it has exploded their work into a full-day event with only a few small breaks. For most of us, an adjustment needs to be made to ensure the work-life scale remains balanced for the long haul. Here are 3 sure-fire ways to improve your work-life balance.
Build a balanced schedule and social routine
It is important to ensure you make time for the pieces of the day that don’t contribute to work stress. Though seemingly unimportant components of the day, showering, eating and enjoying a home-cooked breakfast, and enjoying your coffee as you digest the news are examples of ways to improve your work-life balance and are often the first to get nixed when stress gets turned up. A way to improve this situation is to plan these rituals into your day. Block them out in your schedule, prioritize them, and resist the urge to jump straight into your email when you wake up. This way, when work begins to challenge you, you aren’t starting from a place of stress.
Another component of a day to enforce in your schedule is in social interactions. In this time of video conferencing for work and alone time at home otherwise, it is even more important to take deliberate steps toward calling a friend or family member to socialize with them. The more regular, the better, as it will play a key role long term in improving the overall balance between work and life. Humans crave social interactions and support, especially in challenging times such as the one we are all navigating right now. For the P.S. Your Career team, that means a weekly happy hour where we talk about anything other than work. For you it may mean a regular time to connect with family and friends.
Maintain a consistent health regimen
The importance of a good health regimen – regular exercise, a healthy diet, and a regular sleep schedule – should never be overlooked! Simply stated, you feel better when you do these things. Physiologically, your body undergoes a slew of hormonal changes before, during, and after exercise that increase your mood -- making you feel more hopeful, euphoric, and relaxed -- while repairing damage from and building immunity to high levels of stress. Along those lines, a regular sleep schedule can contribute to all of these by supplementing the recovery, from both the exercise and a stressful day, and ensuring you feel well-rested for the next one.
Enforce regular hobby / personal development time
Make the time to do the things you want to do and enjoy doing as if your mental health levels depend on it. This could range from potting plants to photographing airplanes. While professional / career development could be included here, even better would be a completely non work-related hobby. One that allows you to completely disconnect from the workplace and any stress that comes with it.
As creatures of habit, humans need to understand that there are healthy and unhealthy habits. Though success at work can be a large contributor to overall happiness, it is important to realize that it can often come with continuously high stress levels when one fails to take steps to mitigate them. Implement healthy, balance-positive routines to promote a sustainable system for the long haul.
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