Let’s face it, regardless of how good and caring a corporation may be towards the employees, its main job is to make money. And it uses your time, skills and effort to make that happen. Of course, from time to time this inevitably leads to stress and even burnouts, which is something we definitely don’t want.

To avoid burning out, you must create a better work-life balance for yourself. Yes, some companies do take their employee mental health very seriously, but at the end of the day, you are still at work, eight hours a day, five days a week. It is your responsibility to make sure that you have enough time for yourself and the people that you love.

Below you will find the ten tips for a better work-life balance. Please make sure that you read them carefully and apply them in your life. You will most likely work until you are very old, which is why it is crucial to create the optimal work-balance life already today.

1. Acknowledge the reality

Before you go on thinking how you will create the balance, it is important that you acknowledge the reality that you are in. Are you satisfied with the industry that you are in? What about your job? Do you like what you are doing?

Many people get paid very well or believe that it’s too hard to find a new job, which is why they choose to stay miserable working at a job they hate. If that is your case, ask yourself whether it is really what you want to be doing. Maybe it’s time to move on to something else?

No, don’t have the “I will have fun when I retire” mentality. When you retire, you will be too old to do all of the things you can do now. So don’t lose this opportunity. Today, it’s about you and the people you love, and it’s about being in the now. Don’t let your life pass by you. It’s not too late to change.

If you decide that you first need to change the job/career/industry, then, by all means, do it. It’s very important that you are honest with yourself and that you are not afraid to take a step into a new direction in life.

2. Write down the perfect day

In order to understand what better work-life balance means for you, you have to first figure it out for yourself.

Write down what your perfect balanced day would look like, from the moment you wake up until the moment you fall asleep. Include as many details as you can and don’t hold yourself back.

Once you have written your perfect day down, you at least know what you want, what you lack, and whether it is possible with your current position. If it is, then you can start working on creating a balanced schedule straight away. If it’s not, you can again consider changing your job.

3. Schedule your days and holidays

Other than figuring out what better work-life balance means for you, you need to schedule your days and holidays ahead of time.

Many of us in the first place have a very stressful life due to our inability to properly respond to life. Instead, we constantly react in a hectic manner to things happening around us, and that causes an imbalance. But if we were to know in advance what we would be doing and when, we could take some of that unnecessary psychological pressure off. As a result, we feel less stressed and we can respond to situations instead of reacting to them.

Recommended read: 5 Powerful Goal Setting Tools to Spark Your Achievements

4. Decide on your better work-life balance KPIs

KPI is actually a term that corporations use, which means “Key Performance Indicator”.

In order to improve your life, you have to categorize it. Look at the things that worsen it, and look at the KPIs, those things that make you feel better, happier and more fulfilled.

For example, many busy people like to relax by drinking alcohol. They do it more than they would like to because it has become a habit. Drinking alcohol wastes their time and lowers the overwell quality of life. This is something that would need to be decreased significantly or removed altogether.

On the other hand, if jogging, going to the sauna or being out with your kids in the park is what makes you feel happy, then the amount of that should be increased. These things can be referred to as your personal KPIs. Now Identify your KPIs.

5. Stop wasting time on social networks, live for real

It’s a fact that some of us spend too much time on social networks. It eats up our life and does not bring the pleasure that we would get if we meet people for real.

Hanging out with friends on the internet and hanging out with friends outside are not the same thing, at least not yet, fortunately. 🙂 In the context of a better work-life balance, the latter option is much more important.

6. Sports

Doing sports and physical exercise is a perfect way to alleviate stress. By engaging in physical exercise, we get rid of toxins and release endorphins, which is known to make us feel better and happier. Moreover, by exercising we become and look more fit, which also adds to the overall good feeling that we hold about ourselves.

7. Meditation

Many people do not understand just how powerful meditation is. There are plenty of studies showing that meditation reduces stress and increases the amount of gray matter in the brain, which is directly linked to our memory, empathy, stress and the sense of self.

Please, do not underestimate the power of meditation. I suggest you give it a try and see for yourself whether you enjoy it or not.

8. Take on new hobbies

Often, people claim that they don’t feel happy because all they do is work and watch television on the couch after their work. Their social life is poor and personal relationship are completely absent.

A great way to change this is to start a new hobby.

Do you like sports? Maybe you want to learn to play a musical instrument? What about learning how to paint? Or maybe, you want to learn how to speak Dutch!

Pick something that interests you and start doing it. Not only it will bring some variation and pleasure into life, but you will also meet new people!

Be sure to check out a resource – Meetup. It will help you to find people in your area with similar interests.

9. Control how much you work

Look at the amount of work you do now. Is it too much? If so, decrease it.

You can hope to have a better work-life balance all you want, but if there is simply no space for activities other than your work, then there is nothing you can do about it, right? The only option is to control the amount of time you spend working. Stop working overtime!

Also, there is a very useful rule I recently came across in one of the self-development books that will help you cut down on your working time. The rule states that if you are not ready to take care of something at that very moment, don’t spend your time thinking about it or working on it partially. For example, if you are not ready to respond to all of your emails, then don’t go reading them. Go through them only once you are ready to respond to them.

10. Learn to say “no”

Finally, the last point worth mentioning in the context of a better work-life balance is your ability to say “no”.

You want to enjoy your own company for the evening, but your workmates are asking you to go watch a football game with them? Say “no” to them. You want to drink alcohol today when you know you have better things to do? Say “no” to yourself.

Bot being able to say no is a serious weakness for people who have a poor work-life balance. By relearning this simple, yet difficult skill to master, you will have more control over your life.

Learn to say “no” to those things that make you unhappy and say “yes” to those things that matter to you most.

Thank you for stopping by and good luck!

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