In 2020, everyone was suddenly working from home. If you are anything like my clients, this means you are probably craving work life balance strategies more than ever before.
Dreading going back to work? This blog post is for you. Tired just THINKING about your list of emails? This blog post is for you.
Work life balance strategies are your ticket to living the life you are dreaming of.
- The life where you get to spend time with your family in the evening WITHOUT feeling guilty
- Where you know how to say no to your boss and still keep your job
- The life where your emails don’t rule your subconscious while you are trying to sleep
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Why are work life balance strategies so important (especially for women)?
Work life balance and setting boundaries at work are the only way to put yourself first and start enjoying work again.
If you are like my clients, you can feel yourself
Burning out,
Starting to resent work,
And can feel yourself dreaming of quitting your job (even though you are good at it),
So in this blog post, I am giving you 5 powerful work life balance tips to help you separate yourself from work and start enjoying your down time again.
Work Life Balance Strategy #1 – Schedule Self-Care and Fun FIRST
Everyone says the want work life balance strategies- which means you need to schedule LIFE.
If you have a super clear to do list for work, but nothing scheduled in between, you don’t have work life balance. You have an efficient way of controlling your work time.
That’s why this is the most important work life strategy if you can’t face another year of hating Mondays.
When you are scheduling out your week, ask yourself:
- What am I doing this week that is fun?
- What hobbies have I scheduled?
- How much time am I giving my partner?
- Will I have enough energy to enjoy that party?
This will set up your priorities for the week.
Strategy #2 – Take Email Notifications Off Your Phone
This is the work life balance strategy that probably made the biggest difference in my mental health.
Most people can probably agree that social media will suck your time and brain space.
But I had started reloading my email notifications as well! I kept tabs on my business at ALL. TIMES. I knew exactly when clients messaged, when bills came through, when people paid invoices.
That’s a yikes from me.
Not only did I stop notifications, I disabled Gmail on my phone entirely.
Now, I ONLY check my emails when I am at my laptop working. It turns out most things can wait, and checking them again and again robs you of your sanity.
People won’t die if you don’t respond immediately, I PROMISE.
Work Life Balance Tip: If you can, set up an automatic email response (or a cut and paste template) to let people know you will respond within X amount of time. This sets the expectations for people and gives you space to breathe!
Strategy #3 – Take The Guilt Out Of Your No
I had a client last year who was DYING to take more time for herself and her hobbies.
She didn’t dislike her job- but she felt taken for granted. Her manager always asked her to cover shifts at the last minute, and she ALWASY said yes.
After doing 1:1 boundaries coaching together, she started to
- Say no to working extra shifts without feeling guilty
- Get more confident saying what was OK and what wasn’t when they were asking her to do things
- Prioritize her social life and picking up hobbies she was previously too tired to do after working so much
And because she got so confident in her work boundaries and saying what she wanted? She even got put up for promotion!
The truth is, you are the only one that has to live with the consequences of your decisions. This reminds you that you shouldn’t feel guilty or obligated to say yes all the time.
Strategy #4 – Communicate In Clear Simple Terms
My favourite strategy for setting healthy boundaries is to communicate in super simple terms.
People pleasers often over-explain themselves or come up with excuses why they want to say no,
Instead, say what you need to say and then put a big ol’ FULL STOP at the end of it!
This strategy helped my client to go from “making up excuses when her mum asked what she was doing with her life” to “saying exactly how she was feeling and setting boundaries”.
So, when your boss asks if you can do something (e.g. cover an extra shift), give yourself permission to just say no, sorry. Try it out and see how much energy you start to save for the more important things in your life!
Strategy #5- Don’t Ignore Signs Of Burnout
Here is the hard truth: Your job should serve your life, not the other way around.
When you believe that your life has to revolve around work, you will go above and beyond and it will make you resent work and burn out.
Classic signs of burnout include things like:
- Feeling exhausted even when you get enough sleep
- No longer enjoying your work (or things outside of work)
- Cynicism or resenting your job
- Feeling like you are no longer good at your job
It is normal for people to struggle at their job or go through periods of stress. It is NOT normal to be tired all the. time.
A sure fire way to burnout is to ignore these signs. Knowing these signs and actively taking steps away from them is the best way to achieve work life balance.
What work life balance strategies are you going to use this year? What ones should I add to this list?
Let me know in the comments or email me directly lucy@lucybekker.com to let me know which of these strategies you are most excited to put into place!
