It is difficult to not bring work at home or home at work. But it’s definitely not impossible. There must have been times when your spouse must have gotten annoyed because even after coming late, you immediately switched on the laptop. Or maybe your boss yelled at you because you were preoccupied with what had happened at home earlier and hence couldn’t concentrate.
Well, I am sure those were not the only times you said to yourself you need to strike a balance in your life and work. The good news is, you are not alone. Almost everyone suffers from the same thing, only in varying degrees. Maintaining work-life balance is no child’s play. So here are a couple of tips that you could use to separate both of these important aspects of your life.
Deliberate decisions:
In the age of 24*7 connectivity our, differentiating between work and life has become a task. If you examine your life, you would realize that the first and last thing you do after waking up and before going to sleep is check for emails. These tiny pop-ups on our phones decide the kind of day we would have and with this, the locus of control is no longer in our hands. This is dangerous because we are like puppets responding to things immediately which we are not required to do.
Many people pride themselves on being always available, but that is not a good sign and disrupts the balance in your life. Take a conscious and deliberate decision to be plugged off the office as soon as you leave, and plug into the home environment the moment you reach. This habit will not only take your mental health and balance a long way but would also send a message to your office mates that you are a person who focuses on one thing at a time and is not available at all times to solve problems for them, which in retrospect, makes them weaker. It has also been proved that a powerful way of eroding your own performance is by being always available. You need to recharge yourself to be able to perform better the next day. And for that, you need to sign out, physically and mentally!
The support system:
Just as we call our family members our support system, it is very important to build a trusted bond with your co-workers who would proactively come forward to take care of your work in case of an emergency. Just knowing that these people exist can take off a huge burden on your mind of ‘there is nobody to do your bit of the job.” So go ahead, and be that person to others in order to earn them for yourself as well.
Setting and meeting deadlines:
Deadline is the ultimate inspiration. When one knows there is a deadline to be met, the productivity already shoots up. However in the opposite scenario, one becomes lethargic in completing the task, and productivity goes down with the increase in the time allotted. Hence, if you’re working hours are until 6, stay in office till 6 only and program yourself to think that you have to finish all the tasks before it. The habit of wanting to finish a little bit more of work post 6 is deadly, as it transforms into a lifestyle that one can no longer come out of.
Definition of success:
We all have different definitions of success. Buying a luxury car may be one’s definitions while for someone else it maybe being able to construct a school for the underprivileged. However, whatever your definition is you need to be clear about it. Why so, you may ask, because it is important for you to know when to stop worrying. If you know from beforehand what it looks like to have achieved your goal, you would be able to recognize it when it does happen, else you would keep on chasing an unknown and unseen goal.
Well, none of what we discussed is rocket science, yet we do not really do it. It is the simple things that are the most difficult to achieve, yet the magic is in taking the first step. So keeping these 4 things in mind, make deliberate decisions in your everyday life, know what you are working towards and when to stop, build trusted bonds, switch off work mode when at home. Always remember walking alone cannot get you far, the real strength lies in working together with every element and every person in your life.
So, take the first steps, and work-life balance would automatically make its way into your life.
