8 Essential Work-Life Balance Tips For A Happier You

If you’re in need of some good work-life balance tips, you probably have been feeling off-kilter lately. Perhaps you’re struggling with exhaustion or find yourself snapping at people left and right.

Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is often hard for high-performing individuals or recovering perfectionists who rarely admit that they’re feeling burned out and are in need of a break.

When faced with work-induced mental and emotional discomfort, the only strategy many of us resort to is bulldozing our way through it until we somehow magically feel better. It’s the “hustle culture”.

Sometimes, it works. Other times, however, you might develop work anxiety or experience difficulties in your personal relationships.

To bring back harmony into your life, try incorporating these work-life balance tips into your daily routine.

Work-Life Balance Tips

1. Figure out your priorities

When you’re swamped with work, it’s almost impossible to get a birds-eye view of things and see which tasks are a priority and which aren’t. However, taking a moment to assess your priorities can be a lifesaver.

This way, you lower your chances of constantly switching between tasks with zero focus and getting little done in the process.

2. Get over your perfectionism

Would it surprise you to know that it’s perfectionists who usually struggle with work-life harmony?

No, I didn’t think so!

Individuals with perfectionist tendencies often put their work above everything else and rarely ask for help.

This makes for a very potent workaholic cocktail since they feel pressured to perform excellently at the expense of their life outside work.

Once you overcome your perfectionism, you’ll be able to listen to your body’s signals and actually follow them, meaning that you won’t be afraid to take time off to rest and recharge.

3. Evaluate your career

When I look back on the moments when my work-life balance was the worst, the root cause was actually in the work itself.

A super-stressful, anxiety-inducing job will continue to wreak havoc in your life and no work-life balance tips will help until you address the source of the problem.

Being out of alignment with your career means that any negative energy you feel during work will spill over into other areas of your life, creating an imbalance.

It might be time to reconsider your job or career path and evaluate whether it’s truly what you want to do, or if you were destined for something else entirely.

4. Set boundaries

Do you have a hard time not checking your email when you’re not working? Or do you consistently work overtime? Then I’m afraid you have poor boundaries with work.

In other words, it’s time for your work and your personal life to get a divorce.

This is especially important when you’re working from home and don’t have a physical distinction between your office and your living space.

Trust me, whatever email lands in your inbox over the weekend can wait. The world is not going to end when you decide to no longer be available to coworkers 24/7!

5. Learn how to say “no”

Learning how to say “no” is not just one of the most essential work-life balance tips – it’s significant for personal relationships as well.

It’s not unusual for people who can’t seem to figure out how to balance work and life to say “yes” to every time someone asks them for help.

The smarter course of action is to take a look at your schedule first and be honest with the other person if you don’t have enough time to help them out.

Saying “no” might feel uncomfortable at first (especially if you have people-pleasing tendencies) but it’s one of the most valuable skills to develop.

6. Find hobbies

Is work the only mildly interesting thing that’s happening in your life right now? Then it’s no wonder that maintaining a healthy work-life balance is so challenging.

Finding new hobbies that’ll fill up your out-of-office hours should be a priority for you in this case.

They are an important stress-reliever and improve your self-confidence in a way that spending your afternoons watching TV never could.

7. Overcome your limiting beliefs

Many people overextend themselves at work because they’re afraid of what will happen if they scale back.

You might be afraid of not getting promoted or even getting fired, or you could just feel like you’re wasting time when you’re not working.

But what lies behind these thoughts? Usually, it’s low self-worth and subconscious limiting beliefs around your abilities.

When you believe that nothing you do is ever enough, you naturally fall into the trap of neglecting yourself and your time outside of work.

Realizing that you do have what it takes to be successful and becoming confident in your abilities isn’t something that can be achieved overnight but it’s absolutely within everyone’s reach.

8. Nurture your health

Workaholics (especially young people) are prone to developing unhealthy habits like skipping meals, barely getting any exercise, and relying on excessive amounts of caffeine to power through the day.

Make no mistake – just because this worked for you back in college does not mean it’ll work for you now. In fact, it’s probably actively hurting the quality of your day-to-day life.

Our emotional well-being cannot be separated from our bodies. So when you develop healthier habits, you bring both your mind and body into balance.

Final Thoughts

With the rise of hustle culture, a growing number of people are suffering from chronic overworking. Not devoting every waking moment to making money or growing your business is even perceived as laziness or a lack of ambition.

But even though we’re seeing messages left and right that encourage us to burn out and then burn out some more, nothing can change one simple fact – work-life balance is important.

Without it, your happiness and personal relationships deteriorate, and that’s a high price to pay.

While work-life balance tips offer a way out, this is only possible if you truly commit yourself to valuing your free time as much as you do your working hours.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to be a replacement for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment by qualified medical professionals. Always seek the advice of your doctor, therapist, or other healthcare providers with any questions you may have.