Increasing Peace of Mind and Work-Life Balance
Typically, people fall into two camps when it comes to thinking about work-life balance. One camp believes that achieving work-life balance is impossible and that you should just do the best possible. The other camp believes that if they find the right recipe for utilizing their hours, they will achieve work-life balance. However, this camp quickly gets frustrated because there is no way to shuffle their hours in the perfect way to achieve work-life balance.
Forward, However, Slowly is Still Forward
The critical aspect of achieving a work-life balance and obtaining a state of peace recognizes that there is no perfect work-life balance. Instead of getting frustrated that you haven’t reached a work-life balance, give yourself the simple goal of always improving. If you are moving forward towards self-improvement, even if it is a slow improvement, you are achieving your goal of improving.
When you are looking at your life to determine which areas to improve, break it down to eight different areas:
- Health
- Family and friends
- Romance
- Personal growth
- Fun and recreation
- Physical environment
- Business/career
- Finances
In each of the above areas, decide how you could improve that area of your life and write down your goal. Writing down your goal and sharing it with others increases your chances of achieving your goals. Again, if you are moving forward towards self-improvement, that should give you some peace of mind.
Audit Your Time
If you find that you want more hours in the day, you might try to log your hours and how you spend them. When you can see how you spend your time, you can shave tasks that don’t help you reach your goals. How you spend your hours could shock you with TV time, phone time, and going down topic rabbit holes. You can increase your peace of mind in your daily tasks by cutting out things no longer contributing to a sufficient work-life balance. Adding alarms to your smartwatch or phone could help you focus on your tasks and contribute to your overall productivity.
Digital Detox
Schedule a day to either completely shut down all digital items or develop a time each day to shut down phones and other electric devices. Time away from your digital devices could free up time to spend with family or work on a particular project. Technology is also a primary cause of burn out because we are always on or always connected in some way, we are more prone to burn out. Burn out will cause stress and anxiety, but it could also have some physical ramifications as well, compromising your overall health.
Get Active
Whether you choose to go out for a walk, follow a workout video, or taking part in a class at your gym, getting active helps with your mental well-being. The physical benefits of getting active are well known, reducing anxiety, depression, and stress. Getting active will also boost your immune system and help strengthen your bones and muscles.
