“Work life balance” is a very conscious and a deliberate act to ensure that your health and happiness does not suffer to your work stresses and pressures.
From clinical experience, I see on a daily basis how clients subconsciously make decisions to sacrifice their health and happiness to work longer and prioritising work commitments over their personal and family life.
I would almost call this a modern day “epidemic” but I have seen the significant shift since COVID 19 with more people making conscious decisions to prioritise their health and themselves…..about time!!!
These subconscious decisions can be as a result of emotional past experiences, poor self-confidence, lack of purpose, ego or even lack of empowerment/resilience. It could be all or some of these reasons but without focusing on all the possible problems holdings us back, let’s focus on what you can do right now to change this!
Why Even Achieve The Work Life Balance?
Having a work-life balance will enable you to be more productive, healthy and less likely to be overwhelmed and stressed.
As well, research supports that those with a healthy work-life balance, also feel the following:
- More control over your life
- A sense of accomplishment/fulfilment
- Maximize output in every area of your life
- Improve your productivity
- Tackle conflicts better
- Maintain healthy relationships
- Prioritise better
How To Achieve a Work-Life Balance?
If you are truly looking to improve your health, happiness and stress levels, here are our 3 steps that you can do, to get a better work-life balance!
STEP 1- Assessment Of Your Current State
First of all, look at the whole range of activities that currently fill your life: work, family and friends, school and education, exercise and sport, home commitments, spiritual ….. to list a couple. Individually some of these maybe stressful or the total volume of activities can be overwhelming. See which stressful or non essential activities you can reduce or eliminate.
Second – Check in on how you feel, rate your current stress on a scale of 1 to 10. (1 being your best life and 10 being absolute burnout/exhaustion).
Rating your current state allows you to acknowledge where you are at this moment in time and helps with acknowledging the problem (if there is one). It also helps you be more mindful and aware of your progress e.g. I try to get my clients to a regular 2-3.
STEP 2 – Set Boundaries
If you realize that you are in a high stress state, it is time to set some boundaries!
Some examples, you can make self-agreements, such as:
- “I will stop working at 6 p.m”
- “I will take frequent breaks throughout my workday”
- “It is ok not to complete everything on my to do list….or someone elses to do list!!
It is important to acknowledge that there will be exceptions to these self-agreements, but do not make the exception the norm!
STEP 3 – Let Go & Take Time For Yourself
There are two elements – our stressed state (sympathetic – fight, flight, faint or freeze) and our parasympathetic state (relax, peace and calm) that is hard wired into our autonomic nervous system, so it is critical that we take deliberate actions on both sides eg reduce stress state and increase our relax state.
Given the significant higher stress levels of modern living, the biggest gap I see for most clients is activities to increase our relaxed state.
Yes, this does involve deep breathing, mediation, and emotional releases (letting it go) but it also involves increased social time, creative activities, music, interests, hobbies, exercise/sport and self-care aka taking time for yourself.
Reminder & Final Thought
Reminder: “You don’t live to work, you work so that you can live.”
Final Thought: As the former Vice Chairman and COO of Coca-Cola, Brain Dyson quoted:
“Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them – work, family, health, friends, and spirit and you’re keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls are made of glass. If you drip one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged, or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life.”
Cameron Corish has been caring and achieving results for the local Wishart, Mansfield and Mt Gravatt community for over 10 years. Together with the Core Health Coaching Team, he takes a multi-disciplined and holistic approach to health and fitness addressing the physical, mental and emotional aspects of one’s health.
Ready to feel and look your best? Come in for a FREE chat and see how we can transform your life. Call 0406 451 907 or book a time at https://calendly.com/corehealthcoaching/wellness-consult
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