Work-Life Balance

There’s no two ways about it: modern life is extremely busy! Most people consider it normal to maintain a careful juggling act that involves some combination of work, family, friends, hobbies, school, fitness, volunteering and more. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is important to maintain a sense of self awareness and to always ask ourselves: is my full schedule leading to a full life?

When our work-life balance suffers, it can have serious repercussions. More than one in four Americans describe themselves as being very stressed, and that leads to a variety of physical and mental health issues. It is also extremely ineffective even from a strictly professional point of view: as personal stress rises, productivity plummets.

Here are a few quick tips to help you achieve a better work-life balance.

Schedule and prioritize. Keeping an organized schedule is very important to work-life balance. It helps keep you productive and on-track, and by prioritizing your tasks it can help you avoid wasting time on insignificant jobs. Having a defined list of tasks to accomplish each day also makes relaxing easier: you’ll know that once you’ve finished your list for the day, the rest of your time is truly yours. Last but not least, be sure to include space for downtime on your schedule!
Analyze your habits. We all have habits that drain our time. Perhaps you incessantly check social media. Perhaps you have trouble getting “back on track” after your lunch break. Perhaps you have been prioritizing some activity more than you should be. Whatever your bad habits may be, understanding and accepting them will be an important first step towards improving your life.
Outsource Errands. Last but not least, consider removing at least a few time consuming errands and menial tasks from your schedule in order to get a better grip on your personal time. Perhaps you could have groceries and dry cleaning delivered to your door instead of investing time in completing these tasks yourself. Perhaps you could hire that kid down the street to mow and care for your lawn. The same concept applies to your professional life, as well. Mundane, unproductive tasks such as payroll, timekeeping, tax filing, and background checks can all be outsourced to professional companies such as Precise Payroll, thus giving you more freedom both professionally and personally.