5 Ways to Establish a Healthy Work-Life Balance
Separating work from your personal life can be more challenging than it sounds. Creating a work-life balance is no easy task, especially as companies implement remote and hybrid work models where you find yourself working from home, right in the middle of your personal life.
Even if you work from an office or an all-inclusive coworking company like CommonGrounds Workplace (check out our membership plans here), it can still be hard to close the work day and not bring it home with you at the end of the day. It has become to easy for our colleagues, clients, and superiors to reach us with a simple “ping” and instantly be expected to once again be immersed in work. While of course it is crucial to do your best work and put in the extra hours when need be, it is also important to take care of yourself.
1. Setting healthy boundaries is one of the best ways to find an ideal work-life balance. Studies show that implementing and controlling your work-life balance leads to decreased stress levels. Healthy work-life boundaries can be implemented in many different ways, but ultimately should be structured based on how well they work for you. This could look like pausing all work notifications for a set amount of hours after the work day has ended, shutting down your work computer/work phone at the end of the day, or even scheduling out the additional hours per week that you are willing to put in.
2. Communicate. In any relationship, communicate is key and this includes your work-life relationship. If you feel that your colleagues are calling upon you too late at night or are overwhelming you with tasks that bleed into your personal life – tell them. Be respectful in your conversation and come prepared with examples that made you feel overwhelmed.
Similarly, learn to say no. If a client or coworkers asks to reschedule a meeting during your lunch hour or asks you to stay late repeatedly, communicate that it will not work for you. It is highly possible that the other person is unaware that their request will not work for you and they are not looking for you to bend over backwards to meet their schedule. Let them know that you are not available and propose a time during your scheduled work day that will.
3. Reconsider your work environment. If you are working from home, it is almost impossible to create a healthy work-life balance. No matter what you do or where you go, pieces of your work day and home life will follow you. This might be a sign that working from home every day is not the right environment for you, and that you need to pursue other options.
A coworking space like CommonGrounds Workplace might be the solution you are looking for. Coworking spaces offer different types of memberships, so you are free to find the environment that best suits your needs. If you want to leave your home office completely behind, you can lease a perfectly private office that will replace it. If you are looking for a workspace that gets you out of the house when you need it, a communal membership where you can utilize common areas and conference rooms might be the solution you need. Whatever your workplace need is, CommonGrounds can meet it.
4. Turn technology from a disadvantage to an advantage. One of the main reasons it is so hard to separate work from personal life is that technology makes us available in seconds. No matter where you are or what you are doing, as long as you have reception or internet access, you can work.
Set your email and IM platform to “away” after certain hours, or even taking it a step further by setting up an “after hours response message”. Let your coworkers know that you are currently not available, however you will get back to them at the start of the new business day. Set other’s expectations by utilizing the technology at your fingertips and letting them know.
5. Prioritize and value your time. The truth is that sometimes is it okay for work to seep into your personal time. Sometimes work just cannot wait and you have to allow it to; that is why it is a work-life balance. While it is okay to say no to work sometimes, it is also okay to say yes.
The way to figure out when to say “yes” and when to say “no” is by simply putting value on your time and the tasks in front of you. If you have an upcoming deadline on an important project, that might be a time to say “yes, I will stay late today”. If your sibling is getting married and you need to take the day off to attend it, that is a time to say “no, I cannot squeeze an extra meeting in that morning”. Determine the tasks and moments that matter and that you are unwilling to sacrifice, place their value, and stick to it.
Work-life balance looks different for every individual. There is no perfect set of rules or way to do things – it is all determined by what works best for you. Trust your instincts and evaluate your needs in life and needs in work. Once you have the proper boundaries set in place, lock them in, and continue forward.
