Avoid Burnout With These 5 Science-Backed Tips to Have a Better Work-Life Balance
Struggling to strike a balance between your professional and personal life? Discover how to dodge burnout and maintain equilibrium with five scientifically proven strategies. Uncover the secrets to a healthier, happier, and more productive existence.
Define Work-Life Balance
You can’t have balance if you don’t define it from the outset
- To define work-life balance, write out the things that are important to you on a list
- Next, put a number signifying the priority each item is in your life
- Most people put friends and family as number one and health at number 2, but most people let work undermine the first two priorities
Say no more often
If you get a request from someone at work, “hey, can you work late tonight?” it will be tough to say no.
- Let your boss know that you have plans, but you have time several other time slots where you’d love to be able to help out.
Exercise
Something as simple as a 30-minute walk can release endorphins helping you battle stress throughout the rest of your day
Stop multi-tasking
When you’re interrupted it takes 15-20 minutes to get your focus back to where it was before being distracted
- Be focused on what’s in front of you
- You wouldn’t do pushups at work, so why would you answer an email in the gym?
Set an alarm to go to bed
Sleep deprivation can have serious effects on cognitive health, stress levels, and overall performance
- One simple way to get around this is to set an alarm at 30-minutes before bedtime
- This will give you ample time to wrap up what you’re doing, and get ready for bed.
Reverse engineer physical space to create balance
We mentally tie certain physical areas to certain behaviors.
- In order to achieve the outcomes you want, you’ll need to reverse engineer each place in your life
- You’re better off to stay at work and deepen the connection between productivity and your workspace