How to Create a Positive Work-life Balance

Work can take up a large part of your time, energy and focus. And whilst a desire to succeed is healthy, if left unchecked it can take precedence over your physical, emotional and mental health, (and eventually your career health). Follow these simple tips to improve your work-life balance, reduce stress and improve your quality of life - at work and outside of it. 

1. Eat a nutritious breakfast

Ensure you allow enough time each morning to eat a nutritious breakfast. A good breakfast will set you up for the day, physically and mentally.

2. Exercise 

Regular exercise is not only good for your body, but it can also have a really positive impact on your stress levels and mental health. Try to get at least 30 minutes each day.

3. Prioritise tasks

When you start your day make a list of all the tasks you have to get done. Then try to break down your tasks by importance and urgency:

• Important and urgent
• Not important and urgent
• Important and not urgent
• Not important and not urgent

Once you have established your task priorities, start by tackling the ‘important and urgent’ tasks first, followed by the ‘not important and urgent’ and so on. Prioritising means you can get the most pressing (and stress-inducing) work cleared first thing.

4. Track your time

When you look at the tasks ahead of you each day, allocate a fixed amount of time for each one, and try to stick to it as best you can. This will help keep you focused, on track and achieving goals.

5. Take regular breaks

Taking regular breaks is very important - giving your body and mind a rest will help recharge you for the next portion of the day. If you work outside, make sure you take regular breaks from the sun.

6. Set specific goals for each day

Is there one project you’d like to finish today? Or a hard conversion you need to have with someone at work? Setting specific goals for each day will increase your chance of completing any goals you have, reducing workload and stress.

7. Establish boundaries

A key part of achieving work-life balance is to establish clear boundaries. Learn to say no.

8. Let go of perfectionism

There’s a clear difference between healthy striving and perfectionism. Try to let go of wanting to seem perfect, and focus on doing your best instead.

9. Work with your friends

If you’re a shift worker, try to line up your shifts so you’re working with friends or familiar faces. A good work scheduling app (like Alloc8.io) will let you see who you’re scheduled to work with before you accept a job.

10. Get at least 7 hours sleep

Getting at least seven hours of sleep each night will help you recover from the day’s work, but will also help you to function better on the next day.

By making a few simple changes to your routine you can achieve a better work-life balance, greater wellbeing, and a more balanced and happier life.