When leading the fast-paced lifestyle you do, practicality and efficiency is an utmost priority. But this often comes at the expense of our physical and mental wellbeing. 


Though many of us might be inclined to believe that it’s impossible and unrealistic to have a good work-life balance, especially in our hectic society, we believe that that’s far from the truth. In fact, having a good work-life balance is far more important to us than we think.


According to The Happiness Index, a good work-life balance leads to fewer health problems and burnouts, as well as increased focus in the workplace, which means having greater efficiency than you would if you did nothing but work for days on end. 


Our lives aren’t all about work, so even if we’re tempted to overlook it, putting ourselves first is definitely important. So how can we make our life as fulfilling as possible while keeping our clients and bosses satisfied? Here are our top 5 ways to ensure that you’re on the right track to achieving a healthy work-life balance!


Define what work-life balance means to you



The first step is to define what a good work-life balance means to you. While there are no strict set of rules for what this entails, you should ideally aim to have a good mix of a social and professional life. As long as you are working towards being happy and prioritising your needs, you’re good to go! 


Once you’ve decided what you’ve defined as a good work-life balance, you could set some goals or boundaries that can help you achieve this goal. These don’t have to be huge changes in your life. As opposed to biting off more than you can chew, start small so you can slowly work your way to changing your habits.


Be sure to write your goals down so you can go back to them regularly, as this will help you to make sure that you’re on the right track. And of course, don’t be afraid to bend and adapt these goals, especially if you find that they might be unrealistic or unsuitable for your lifestyle. 


Incorporate breaks into your routine



We’ve found that it really helps to schedule at least one thing that you can look forward to each day. Whether it’s a date night with your partner after a long day of work, or little social media breaks, the little things make all the difference to how you approach your tasks, and provide you with space to take a much-needed breather. 


In fact, these breaks don’t necessarily have to be time-consuming, complicated or expensive! You could even set aside some time to be by yourself or work on some hobbies, helping you to come back to your work feeling recharged and ready to start with a fresh mindset and renewed focus!


Pro-tip for the chronic procrastinators out there, we recommend setting alarms for yourself and exercising discipline so that you don’t end up taking a much longer break than expected.


Drop activities that take up your time and energy



Just like running a marathon, you need to pace yourself at work so you don’t burn out. Sometimes you might commit yourself to activities that don’t necessarily benefit you, and just make you feel more tired and drained. 


If you find that you’re starting to feel more stressed or tired lately, take a step back and analyse your lifestyle. Detect what’s causing you to feel this way and find ways to mend them one thing at a time, whether it’s pulling yourself out from the activity or enlisting the help of someone else to lighten your load. 


Additionally, you can prevent yourself from picking up too many activities by setting firm boundaries for yourself. If you’ve already made plans to spend time by yourself, or with friends and family, turn down non-urgent requests that interfere with those plans. It’s okay to say no!


Make time for self-care



If you’ve rid yourself of draining activities, you can substitute that free time for self-care. 


Self-care can come in many forms, but one of the most basic things we tend to forget is exercising and sleep. They’re much more important than we think! Recent statistics from Simplesavvysmart show that the average adult needs at least 7 hours of sleep nightly to achieve the ideal level of health and wellbeing. Without sufficient sleep, areas such as motivation, focus, memory and more are likely to be impacted. In addition, the Harvard Health Blog revealed that regular exercise boosts your capacity to memorise and think. 


Forbes shows that contrary to popular belief, self-care is the most effective when done in short frequent bursts instead of occasionally and extensively. For instance, it would be much more useful to go out with your friends once a week, instead of planning an annual group shopping spree or staycation.



Work smart, not hard!




Are you working hard, or hardly working? Our society has cultivated the belief that hard work is what gets you places, and while they’re not wrong, we believe that working smart is a much better way to go. 


One of the consequences of working hard instead of smart is that this can cause you to harbour negative feelings such as exhaustion and dread, which can take a toll on your motivation and self-confidence over time. Alternatively, working smart helps you to build more positivity toward yourself and your job.


Here’s one way you can start to work smart. When it comes to work, don’t be afraid to utilise templates or methods that others or yourself have done previously. And no, we’re not encouraging you to copy these methods wholesale. Instead, think of these resources as something you can leverage, learning and improving them until they become a new and unique idea thanks to your own personal touches. Not only does this help you to achieve your goal more efficiently, but it also requires much less brain power as compared to ideating from scratch.

 

At the end of the day, it’s important to remember that change doesn’t happen overnight! Making changes to your lifestyle definitely isn’t easy, but patience and perseverance can go a long way to helping you achieve a happier healthier work-life balance! Keep at it, and you’ll be able to use all of these tips and tricks to being the best #girlboss you can be!