For modern professionals, throwing yourself into your work is an admirable approach. But if you feel tired, frustrated, or bored with your job no matter how much you actually enjoy the work, consider it a warning sign that you might be on the verge of burning out. Fortunately, avoiding burnout can be as simple as improving your work-life balance. With a few small changes, you can easily restore your motivation and even give yourself a performance boost.
Exercise a Little Every Day
Exercise is a great way to feel more energetic, clear-headed, and to shake off that built-up work stress. But you don’t need to change your routine or get a gym membership to get your blood pumping every day – just find little ways to add exercise to your life. Do a little house cleaning, and do it with gusto! Add some simple squats while you’re brushing your teeth. Want to just chill with your favorite show? Add a fitness ball to your entertainment routine.
All these little things add up, but without seeing your steady progress it’s easy to get discouraged. If you could use a shot of inspiration regularly, add a fitness tracker. It can go virtually anywhere you take your work or your workout thanks to its water-resistance, and it’ll keep on top of your heart rate, steps, and general activity to help you keep track of your health data.
Get Better Sleep
The hours you sleep are something personal, determined by your body and metabolism. But the quality of your sleep is something you can and should control. If you’ve been having fitful dreams or often wake up tired, consider making some changes with better z’s in mind. Avoid artificial light, get new sheets, cool down the room, and add white noise to drown out any distracting sounds.
Make and Keep Off-Work Promises
One of the biggest threats to work-life balance is pushing yourself to stay late or take hours that encroach on your personal time. A great way to improve your work-life balance is simply to keep your promises about time spent off work. If you promised your spouse or child to spend time with them, make sure you don’t wind up working instead.
As Allegra Sinclair explains, “it’s easy to neglect the promises we make to ourselves.”
If you promised yourself a weekend of relaxation, don’t spend your time checking emails and poring over work documents. Keep your boundaries firm so you can give work 100% of your focus at work and live a rich life outside of work as well.
Try New Things
Psychology Today says many people find themselves with a bad work-life balance because daily life becomes an unvaried routine. Doing the same things day in and day out, at home and at work, can deplete your energy and motivation.
Why not try doing something completely new with your free time? Even if you just change things up a little on your weekends, you can see a big impact. Go ice-skating, plan a camping trip or start touring low-cost local museums. Or just start scheduling weekend lunch plans with friends or network contacts. Anything that spices up your routine can also help you restore your work-life balance.
Know If It’s Time to Move On
If you have trouble achieving balance despite concerted efforts, consider this a time that you need to make a change. Whether it’s finding a new job or even switching industries, the inability to find balance could be closely related to your employer or the type of work you’re doing. If you’re set on finding a new role, survey available opportunities, take the time to familiarize yourself with current application etiquette and be sure to connect with people in your network for leads. This can be colleagues, alumni groups, or through LinkedIn.
If it’s a whole new career that is calling to you, don’t let returning to college turn you off. Especially if you need to keep working while you earn a degree. Online universities offer programs with working professionals in mind so that you can work toward your degree in a way that suits your schedule. With so many degree opportunities available, the hard part is really deciding which way to go.
The key to a great work-life balance is to love what you do at work and at home and to take care of your health. If you are healthy, you can enjoy everything you do without the drag of fatigue or illness. And if you love everything you do separately, you can switch between the joy of a job well done and leisure time well spent.
