1. Learn to say ‘no’
If you want a better work-life balance, learn to say ‘no’. This one of the most important things you can do to prevent work from taking over your life. Whether you work set or flexible hours, you will probably be asked to do extra work at some point. If you keep taking on extra work, you’ll become the reliable one; you’ll end up doing so much that work that it’ll be so much harder to get that work-life balance. Don’t automatically answer ‘yes’ when someone asks you to do more work; be prepared not to give in to people’s demands and requests. Of course, turn people down politely and simply let them know you have other things to do.
2. Keep work at work
Learn how to keep everything work-related at work. Once your working hours are over, that’s it, you can forget about everything to do with work until your working hours start again. Put yourself in a different frame of mind once your working hours are over. Now it’s your time to do what you want. You should also try to remain out of contact – when you’re relaxing at home, you don’t want to be constantly checking our emails, for example. Put your phone away and keep all work-related stuff away. Make colleagues wait for a reply, so long as you’re still reliable and do intend to reply. Make yourself available during working hours only. Of course, some jobs require more flexibility and require you to do some work outside of designated working hours; with any job, it’s important to not let work-related stuff overflow into your non-working hours.
3. Remember you’re not perfect
It’s important to remember that you don’t have to please everyone all the time. There’s only a set amount of time in the day. You haven’t got enough time to satisfy everyone who wants something from you. Realize that you’re not going to please everyone all the time. If someone wants your time for whatever reason, don’t be afraid to turn them down and let someone else take over. Once you realize you can’t do everything people ask of you, you’ll find it easier to concentrate more on the things you want to do for yourself.
4. Cut down on time-wasting activities
Think of things you do that are pointless and just a waste of time. Think of how much time you spend doing those things each day. You might be surprised to realize that a lot of the stuff you do during a typical day doesn’t serve a purpose. One of the most common time-wasting habits is checking social media sites. People also waste loads of time on the Internet looking at different sites. If you have any time-wasting activities that you can do without, cut down on the amount of time you spend on them.
