Here at Office Guardians, achieving a work-life balance and a culture that reflects this is extremely important. We have created this list of what helps us on a day to day basis and hope you also find this to be of value in your life.
1. Divide and Conquer: Learn to let go and delegate smaller tasks to your team. There may be skills that you can teach them and skills that they perhaps do better than you can. Focus your energy on the things that you do best. This way, you also save time and have a little “you time” to spare.
2. Live in the Moment: Tackle things as they come. If you’re at home, focus on home and if you’re at work, focus on work. Do not cross or confuse the two. If you have an office at home, make sure it is in a quiet and peaceful area where you can 100% focus on the tasks at hand. Schedule your correct breaks to clear your head and stick to the plan for the day ahead. It’s best not to jump ahead in your thoughts and think too far ahead, otherwise this is when mistakes can happen and you can become more stressed in the process. Be thankful for the moment you’re in and learn to enjoy it fully.
“Be thankful for the moment you’re in and learn to enjoy it fully.”
3. Plan Me Time: Balance is key, so remember to schedule in time to pamper yourself, whether it’s to go out to the movies with the family, to have a massage, to sit down and relax with a good book or to do nothing. Often, people will fill their entire schedule with work-related commitments and bite off more than they can chew. With this simple step, this can be avoided.
4. Prioritize: Try to figure out what is most urgent and what can wait until later. Planning ahead is important, but the first step is by listing all the things you need to do and then know their order of importance. This also means knowing what would you put first; your personal life/home/family or work? Having a balanced life is all about being the best version of ourselves and that means having all areas aligned and giving each one equal attention.
5. Stay Positive: Staying calm and positive throughout this journey is crucial. Mindset is everything in a balanced lifestyle and taking time to sit with your thoughts and feeling, to reflect and to be grateful is very important. Surrounding yourself with like-minded people who also have a positive outlook can make a world of difference. Even scheduling spiritual or soul-searching activities in your day can help tremendously, such as: journaling, creativity, or spa treatments. These are all nourishing for the body, mind, and spirit.
6. Stay Healthy: Balancing personal and professional lives is going to require a lot of energy. This energy not only comes from your mindset, but very much from healthy eating. Avoid eating at your desk by the computer if possible and instead, eat somewhere quiet and dedicated for relaxation instead. This is particularly important for those who work at home. This way, you are not eating in a stressed out state and instead, you are retraining your mind and body to take a break and relax. Also, try not to stay sedentary all day at your desk. Instead, try to get up and walk around every half hour to burn off some calories, get the blood flowing and re-energize.
“Remember that all work and no play is no good…”
7. Bring the Fun to Work: Remember that all work and no play is no good. Though work does have a serious undertone and important things need to be seen to, it is vital that you break into fun moments that yourself and your co-workers can all enjoy. This forces us to relax, smile, and come back to the present moment.
8. Set Healthy Boundaries: Have an open conversation with your employee on your values, expectations, and exact needs for their position. This can mean having the opportunity to set healthy boundaries for during and after work hours. This could mean your boss or yourself set times to contact each other and when not to. For example, it could be a rule or an understanding that is implemented at work that unless it is urgent, avoiding work-related conversations or tasks after office hours is best.
9. Communicate: If you are experiencing a hard time at home or personally, it is a good idea to let your co-workers or boss know. This way, everyone can resort to proper coping techniques and give you the emotional support you need, so you feel less overwhelmed at work and able to function. Knowing your capabilities and respecting your needs and those of others means that it might even require having some time off to recuperate.
10. Use Technology Wisely: Understand when technological devices help you, or when they drain you and get in the way of family life. Make a technology ban at the dinner table or during time spent with family and friends and try to come back to the present moment. As helpful and convenient as technology can be, it can also hinder the most beautiful part of life: face to face interaction with the world and those you love and care for.
Whether you incorporate all of these ideas into your life or focus on only one, we hope that you find life feeling more stable and balanced, and at the end of the day you are enjoying this one life that you get to live. You get to make the rules in your life, so make good ones.
– Your friends at Office Guardians!
