How Managers Can Balance Work And Life

Having a wealthy and meaningful life is everyone’s dream. To achieve that dream, we have to work. Sometimes, you are required to sacrifice lots of leisure time to pursue your career and take care of other responsibilities. When work has dominated the majority amount of your time, however, it can come with great negative impacts on different aspects of your life such as health, family, and relationship. Therefore, applying a harmonious work-life balance is critical to improving not only your physical and emotional well-being but also your career prospect.

Work-life balance, in short, is the state of equilibrium where a person equally prioritizes the demands of one’s career and the demands of one’s personal life. It is incredibly difficult for people with high-level roles to achieve work-life balance with a great amount of work and pressure on their shoulders. So how can managers balance the scale of work and life? Incorporate these ways to accomplish work-life harmony.

Sacrifice health for work is a bad idea

Health or work, what comes first? The answer never changes, health.

If you don’t have health, you have nothing. Yet many people still prioritize personal career over health. Overworking without adequate rest leads to many drawbacks that severely damage individual health. Chronic stress, for example, can lead to physical consequences such as hypertension, digestive troubles, and heart problems along with mental health impacts like depression, anxiety, and insomnia.

If you struggle with anxiety or depression and think therapy would benefit you, fit those sessions into your schedule, even if you have to leave work early. Be conscious of your food choices, have a balanced diet filled with vegetables, fruits, and avert junk food and energy drinks. Incorporate physical activity into your workflow: hustle up the stairs instead of taking the elevator, or walk over to a co-worker’s office for some face time instead of an email exchange. Ms. Dang Thanh Hang – Chairwoman of Thanh Hang Company, shared that with her overwhelmingly busy work schedule, she chooses detox drinks combined with light exercises such as breathing exercises, jogging, and some personal training sessions regularly to stay healthy and youthful physically and mentally.

Make time for your loved ones

Family is the root of everyone’s life. While your job is important, it shouldn’t be your entire life. Just because work keeps you busy doesn’t mean you should neglect family bonds. The conflict between work and family life is one of the most common sources of stress for working adults. Therefore, spending quality time for family is absolutely crucial.

Organize your work to save more time doing something together with your loved ones. It doesn’t have to be anything big or take very long. Plan a small picnic, go out for dinner, watch a movie together, do anything that brings joy to the whole family. These simple moments can bring enormous value and happiness that even motivates you to be more successful in both career and life.

Furthermore, many perfection managers, especially women, reach serious burnout by trying to complete everything themselves. It is vital to know your limits. Share directly with your family about the difficulties at work and at home so that everyone can understand. Don’t bust yourself and take charge of every task from housework to office work. Give your employees some assignments and encourage the whole family to share all the housework. This not only helps you gain more understanding from family members but also prevents fatigue and constant stress.

Hire the best, then empower them

One common factor behind managerial burnout is the insistence on adhering to the old saying, “If you want something done right, do it yourself.” The fact is, you can’t do all the work even when you are an exceptional leader. Instead, smart managers create more time for themselves by hiring the best employees possible first, then empower them with appropriate training. If you take a few days off and your team still performs smoothly, that means your leadership is excellent, which also buys you more free time to invest in your personal life.

Limit time-wasting activities and people

The way to make more time for both work and personal life is to get rid of unnecessary activities and relationships. First, identify what’s most important in your life. This list will differ for everyone, so make sure it truly reflects your priorities, not someone else’s. Next, draw firm boundaries so you can devote quality time to these high-priority people and activities.

From there, it will be easier to determine what needs to be trimmed from the schedule. If email or internet surfing sends you into a time-wasting spiral, establish rules to keep you on task. That may mean turning off email notifications and replying in batches during limited times each day. And if you find your time being gobbled up by less constructive people, find ways to limit these interactions. Focus on the people and activities that reward you the most.

Design your own work-life balance schedule

Each person has different perspectives on the balance in work and life. When you hear “work-life balance,” you probably imagine having an extremely productive workday and leaving early to spend the other half of the day with friends and family. While this may seem ideal, it is not always possible and accurate for everyone.

Don’t strive for the perfect schedule or plan to reach work-life balance; aim for a realistic one. Some days, you might need to highly focus more on work, while other days you might have more time and energy to pursue your hobbies or spend time with your loved ones. Balance is achieved over time, not in one day. The main thing is how you value work-life balance and determine the appropriate time slots for your career and personal life that benefits both aspects most. Allow yourself to remain open to redirecting and assessing your needs on any day is key in finding balance.

Conclusion

Maintaining a healthy work-life balance regiment is not only essential for your career, health, and relationships, but it can also enhance your employee’s productivity, and ultimately performance. In reality, getting the balance is tricky, but not having the balance can come with greater costs. Value all the time you can have for yourself and loved ones outside work, cause those are the moments that assist for your wealthy and fulfilling life.

According to Forbes

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