HOW TO ACHIEVE A POSITIVE WORK / LIFE BALANCE

The employers are putting employees to work for more hours to bring in added productivity for achieving improved results. Thus, I think it has made the employees faces a lack of scope to spend time for themselves or their family, in turn, losing the balance of work with personal life. After the recession, various companies are seen to have cut off the total number of employees, which has resulted in huge work pressure on the existing staff as the fulfillment of the determined productivity has fallen on their shoulders to run the company. Moreover, the work pressure has further increased because the present technological world they do not let employees refrain from work even after leaving their office. This is because through the use of innovative technologies employees remain connected with the company and their supervisor for 24hours to execute work even after reaching home. A survey in the UK by the government reported that nearly 21% of the employees aged 25-34 had provided the review of negative work-life balance. Moreover, it is also reported that a quarter (26%) of the respondents reported that they have to work from home regularly due to the work pressure put forth by their team leaders and bosses.

A positive work-life balance is required for the employees to let them improve personal health as well as a relationship with the family. Moreover, it is required to bring in efficiency at work and preventing the employees from getting susceptible to excessive burnouts.

Thus, it is required that an effective and positive work-life balance is maintained which can be developed by using the following strategies as per my view.

Arrange a time track
As being the employee, you need to frame a track of the time at every situation during the starting of each work week. The work log to be framed need to have time specification for each of the tasks you do during the week starting from your work-related to day-to-day personal activities. The work log will act as a guide for you to let you understand where and how you are using the time and due to which reasons and the situation you are losing personal time which can be used by you to gain work-life balance. For example, if you include in your time-log that you are not going to check e-mails for work during the few early hours of your day you can save some time to get it used for personal and family activities. Thus, it is vital that you maintain a well-organized time log so that you can also make your life disciplined.

Identify priorities
In order to make proper arrangements regarding a way to maintain a work-life balance, you need to focus and identify what are the prime things that you need most in your life. Moreover, you also need to identify a few of the essential responsibilities that you need to perform at work to execute a proper balance of all activities. After you have prioritized what you need most develop proper analytical questions. The questions may be when will you start the prioritized activity? How often do you want to execute the activities? How long are you going to do each of the activities? and many others. The identification of priorities helps you understand what are the key things you need to be done first for maintaining balance at work.

Set mission and goals

After you have set your priorities frame ways to reach them by developing appropriate goals and missions. The mission framed needs to include a schedule for each of the prioritized activities chosen by you. Thus, you need to block your time for each of the set goals and mission like you do for attending an official meeting or meeting a doctor for your monthly check-up. In order to get success in availing positive work-life balance, it is required that you set your goals and mission in a realistic way so that they are effective enough to be fulfilled by you without hindering your work.

Plan and then schedule
The people who are successful in maintaining positive work-life balance are seen to have planned their activities properly and then execute them. In order to make a productive and realistic plan, you can even take help from various date planner sites. You need to remember that you have one life and how you lead it is dependent on your activities. Thus, without successful planning, you cannot execute what you want to execute properly so just focus. After you rise, keep aside a minimum of 30 minutes to plan each of your tasks by relating to the time log prepared by you at the beginning of the week.

Set Boundaries
The action to be performed needs you to set realistic and limited boundaries. Remember! Setting unrealistic and unfair goals and limits are not going to take you anywhere to maintain a proper work-life balance. After you have set your limits, communicate them to the higher authority at work and to the family members at home. For example, alert your work supervisor that after 10 pm you will not be available to work until a work crisis arises that requires your special and immediate participation. In another, instance, you also need to inform your family that for a certain span of time in the morning you are not allowed to be disturbed because you need a few personal time for yourself to be spent alone.

Develop effective health care planning and activities
You need to keep your health relates to issues and activities at the prior position of your work-life balance plan. Remember! Your health is your own asset, and lack of health care is going to deteriorate your life mentally, emotionally as well as physically making you incompetent to effectively maintain work-life balance. Thus, prepare a diet chart so that you can effectively maintain your health. You also need to set aside timings in your daily work table which will be used in the physical exercise. The physical exercise is required to keep you physically as well mentally fit to effectively provide good performance at work.

Maintain proper family relationship
As a part of the family, the employees need to maintain and nurture their family because if family relationships are damaged it becomes difficult for you as the employee to provide effective work productivity. This is because you feel mentally depressed and this leads to your inattentive working nature creating problems even at work. For example, there will be many times when you have to fulfill your work targets and need to work overtime. However, it is up to you how you manage those days to make your family understand your problem and situation. You need to be alert that making it a rule to work overtime is just a thing that is hindering your family relationship. Thus, in the days prior to your target fulfillment spend as much time you want to with your family so that they do not feel derived by you. Moreover, even keep a strong focus by keeping a regular connection with your family about what are their emergency needs. In case of emergency, you have to be bold that you request your supervisor about your family position and try to convince them about your need to be with the family. At least try!

Try to leave work at the office
As an employee, you need to keep proper efficiency to control yourself by leaving work at the office. For example, while spending time with your family do not think of the tender that you missed or what you are going to do the next day at work. You need to control yourself from sending e-mails or other messages while being in your relaxing time unless it is urgent. You need to divert your mind. Play with your children, have a movie night with your friends or family, visit your grandparents after work. You need to engage your mind in other activities after work so that you are able to keep a positive work-life balance.

Make your personal time
This is one of the vital parts to be executed to maintain a proper work-life balance, spend time with yourself; engage in things that make you happy, and others, perform other solo activities where you can explore yourself. You need your personal space and time in order to know yourself. Don’t make yourself so much busy where you lose yourself from being who you are, what you wanted to be.

Work smartly
One of the key things in maintaining a work-life balance that you need to perform is to do smart work. For example, refrain from interacting with employees who make you lose your valuable time by doing gossips and other stuff that makes you lose time at work to make you work overtime to fulfill your target. Just plan your work and execute them according to the plan, after you finish it participate with your colleagues because without interacting them you cannot survive at work.

Writer:- Leesa Johnson works as a freelance content writer and a private tutor in the UK.