Category: Healthy Lifestyle

Are the boundaries between work and home becoming blurred for you? Like many people, you may find yourself working over-time or from home in the evenings, and even working over weekends. But there’s only so much time in any day, and all this work can leave precious little time for the ‘home’ part of your life.

Taking back “me time”

It’s scary how we’ve become conditioned to working this much, but there are many downsides to taking on unnecessary amounts of work. Fatigue, stress, burn-out and relationship problems are just a few of the consequences of having little or no work-life balance.

If this sounds like your life, then it’s time to even things out. Here’s what you can start doing to help balance your life and reclaim more ‘me time’.

Start delegating tasks

This doesn’t mean dumping all of your responsibilities on someone else. No. We’re only suggesting that you take on only what you know you can complete in a reasonable amount of time, and assign the rest to colleagues who you know will be able to get the rest of the work done.

Learn to say ‘no’

If you’re working an insane amount of hours, there’s a chances that you say ‘yes’ every time someone asks you to do something. If a task is very important, urgent, or requires your input, then take it on. However, if something can wait until next week, or if it’s something a colleague can assist with, then hand it over or put it on the back burner until you can give it your full attention.

Make sure you get enough down-time

Easier said than done, sure, but it’s vital if you want to reduce stress levels and keep your sanity intact. 30 minutes down-time at the end of a day is all you need to help you unwind. Whether you go for a beach walk, join an intensive gym class, read a book, sip on a glass of good wine, play with your dog or sit in the garden and meditate – doesn’t matter – as long as it leaves you feeling calmer and with a smile on your face.

Are you wasting valuable ‘me’ time?

On top of a heavy work load, there are always a hundred things that still need to be done at home. Washing, cleaning the house, gardening, running errands – all take up time. Think about hiring someone to help you with these things. Often, you think you can’t afford to employ a gardener or someone to help clean your house, but calculate the time it takes to do those jobs and what you could be doing with that time = the value is suddenly much clearer.

Make time for family and friends

Your spouse, children and loved ones are often the first to start feeling neglected when you’re in over-drive work mode. And let’s be honest, it’s not fair – especially since they’re also your support structure. Make a point of enjoying a drink or dinner with your spouse a few times a week, spending quality time with the kids at the weekend, or organising an evening out with your friends.

Quality time with loved ones really does put everything into perspective.