Working from home is the ideal setup in your career since it gives you both the flexibility and freedom to control your time and working from the comforts of your home. However, even when this is the case, it’s not exactly easy to achieve work-life balance, especially when your personal life and career life are suddenly merged into one. In the process, you come across many work-from-home challenges. It can be extremely challenging to maintain a proper work-life balance when there isn’t a proper division between both aspects, but it’s not impossible to do so.
To achieve work-life balance, the most important thing is to set boundaries otherwise, you’ll be working beyond your work hours constantly. Taking your career life out from your personal life is the best thing you can do to achieve that.
5 Awesome Work-Life Balance Tips When Working From Home
In this article, we’ll be discussing some of the ways you can maintain a proper work-life balance.
1. Separate leisure time from work time
You can’t mix both leisure and work in a single time frame because the tendency is, you’ll lean towards one more than the other, and more often than not, it’s easiest to choose work rather than prioritizing yourself. As mentioned above, boundaries are a significant part of achieving work-life balance so without this aspect, you will always burn yourself out. Be disciplined enough to say no when your work hours are over and if you find that you’re catching up on deadlines, do everything you can to avoid procrastinating your deadlines in the first place.
Neglecting yourself for work will end up badly and it’s not an outcome that turns out positively. Boundaries exist for a reason and when you’re abusing those boundaries, you’ll never achieve work life balance. There has to be a proper balance between both significant aspects of your life if you want to maintain your health and even your performance at work.
2. Stop trying to be perfect
When it comes down to it, perfectionism is an impossible standard you’re trying to achieve. Overworking yourself will end up badly and it’s a decision you’ll come to regret eventually. Instead of striving for perfection, you need to find the right balance between striving for ambition and spending time on things and people that make you happy.
There’s nothing wrong with spending a portion of your day relaxing and unwinding. In fact, you should do exactly that when work hours are over instead of not putting in the time to spend time with yourself. Otherwise, this lack of work life balance will keep exhausting you until you have no energy left to give even in your career.
3. Disconnect
We live in a digital era so disconnected is much more challenging than it seems when spending time on social media is considered a necessity nowadays. However, if you can help yourself, disconnect from your work and gently let your co-workers know that anything work-related will be done tomorrow. Disconnecting will give you the boundaries you need that separates your career from your personal life.
It’s also advisable that you spend your time relaxing with proper intention, which also implies that you do things that don’t involve using your phone or computer screen. This way, you don’t spend your leisure period being reminded of your work tasks or the deadlines you have yet to finish for the week. There are several activities you can do without using your screen, whether that’s working out, going out with friends, or even catching a movie.
4. Avoid working on the weekends
While this isn’t something everyone can avoid, if your work doesn’t require you to do work tasks on the weekend, then you shouldn’t dedicate your entire weekend to work. The weekdays are enough to focus your energy on work and when you do that on weekends as well, that’s precisely what causes the lack of “work life balance.” If you can help it, it’s better to spend your energy and time with the people you love on weekends.
However, if your work requires you to work 6 days a week, then do your best to find the balance between doing work and spending time on yourself. The general gist you can get from this article is to find that proper balance that lets you do both.
5. Don’t forget to socialize and go out
Stats show that only 32.5% of US men engaged in socializing every day from 2009 to 2019, and it’s less than 50%. Considering such drastic statistics, this is very crucial to socialize for better work-life balance as it’s very easy to feel burned out when you’re trying to relax at home in the same environment where you’re under a lot of pressure from work. Be intentional about your after-work hours and don’t hesitate to go out with your loved ones and spend time with them. It will do you so much good when you spend your leisure time this way instead of staying at home.
This is especially true when you’re known as an extrovert and since you’re not working in an office setting, the lack of socializing can make you feel isolated and alone. If this is the case, it’s even more essential to go out and be around people. This is the only way you can make up for the lack of socialization when working from home.
Additional Tips
- To maintain a work-life balance, proper boundaries have to be set.
- Don’t be afraid to say no, especially when your work hours are over.
- Move your body every now and then to avoid feeling like you’re stuck in this endless cycle of just working.
- Build the right transitions between work and your personal life.
- Be intentional about your after-work hours.
- Find your definition of work-life balance and focus on achieving that definition.
In conclusion, I hope this article was able to shed insight into everything you needed to know on ways to maintain a work-life balance. It’s not always easy to achieve this in a remote setting as it takes more effort, but it is possible if you know how to tackle work from home anxiety. When you’re actively struggling to find a balance in both, realize that a simple adjustment in your habits or approach can make things easier for you.
