It doesn’t matter whether you’re going into an office every day or working from home, maintaining a good work/life balance is extremely important. Without it, you may find that you’re spending too much time working and not enough time on yourself or your family, which can cause burnout, ill health and ruin relationships. Or, you may find you’re spending too much time on yourself and your family and not enough time working, which can seriously affect your earning potential.
If you work outside of the home, maintaining a work/life balance may be easy. When you clock off for the night, you’re done and can spend the rest of your time with your family and friends. But, when you work at home, you may find it’s harder to maintain regular working hours and ‘clock off’ at the end of the day.
We’ve put together a few tips to help ensure you maintain a healthy work/life balance. Following just a few of these tips can help you structure your day, find enough time for work, yourself and your family and hopefully, reduce the risk of burnout.
- Don’t forget to switch off. – People say that freelancers never take sick days or vacations, and are always connected to their jobs in some way. But, there are more important things in life than just work. Remember to prioritize yourself and your loved ones and schedule downtime regularly. While you may not be able to book a whole week off, make sure you take a personal day or two every now and then to help avoid burnout.
If you find yourself working from the time you get up to the time you crawl into bed at night, try blocking out some calendar time for you. It might seem silly to create a calendar appointment to eat lunch, but it will help to ensure you don’t get so caught up in work that you forget.
Also, when you’re doing things like grabbing a coffee with friends, walking the dog or even making a quick store run, leave your phone at home. That will help to ensure you fully switch off and don’t spend the entire time thinking about work.
- Create a routine – Unless you’re just working to fill your time and don’t need to earn a decent income, a routine is vital. When working from home, it’s easy to stay in bed an extra half hour or catch that midday show you’ve been itching to watch. However, this can seriously put you behind on deadlines, which is never a good thing.
If you create a routine, you’ll be able to reduce the stress of trying to meet those deadlines, and eliminate the need to work extra hours to catch up. The beauty of freelancing means that you don’t have to create a ‘regular’ 9 to 5 day. Many people get up early, power through their workday and then take the afternoon and evening off. Others work in shifts, working a few hours in the morning, taking the afternoon off and then working again for a few hours in the evening. Find a routine that works for you, and try to stick to it as much as possible.
- Treat yourself like an employee – You are your own boss. But you may find you’re more successful if you treat yourself like an employee. Give yourself time off, maybe set up a pension plan and remember to let things go at the end of the day.
Be careful to not be a tyrant. Life is better if you get on with your boss. Remember to cut yourself some slack and not beat yourself up if things go wrong. Things are rarely perfect all the time, mistakes can happen, but most are usually easy to fix.
- Create an office space – It doesn’t have to be a dedicated room, but a dedicated office space (even a corner in the kitchen or living room) will help you get into work mode and minimize distractions.
However, remember to walk away from your office space when your work day is done. Don’t eat there, don’t watch TV there and definitely don’t sleep there. Train your brain that when you’re in your office space, you’re in work mode.
- Learn to say no – It’s easy to say yes to everything. After all, the more work you do the more money you make, right? But saying yes too often can actually hurt your bottom line. If you get overloaded, it’s easier to miss deadlines, rush and turn in low-quality work and just get overwhelmed.
If your plate is full, take some time to think about whether you can really manage that extra piece before saying yes. And if you’ve enough on your plate already, don’t be afraid to say no.
- Don’t neglect your health – It’s easy to get so caught up in work that you forget to eat or drink, or realize you’ve not left the house in a week. But maintaining your health is important, so remember to take time for yourself – eat and drink regularly, go for a daily walk or workout a few times a week to ensure your body and mind stay in tip-top condition.
It may take some time to come up with a good work/life balance, but in the long run you’ll find that you’re happier at work, you can get more done and still have plenty of time for yourself and your family.