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Working during weekends and missing out on family time is sometimes unavoidable. Often, people choose to work more hours for the benefit of their families. But if you can’t attend a family gathering because you chose work over family, you might worry about others’ perceptions.
Americans work a daily average of 8.5 hours on weekdays. It’s a fair enough statistic for a 40-hour workweek, but most spend more than five hours working during the weekend.
Consistent after-hours work can be damaging to both your personal and professional life. You might choose to work beyond office hours to prove your worth to the company. However, it can take its toll on every aspect of your life because you miss out on family bonding time or alone time with your better half.
Did you know that you can be productive in your job while having enough time left for yourself and your family?
Create a balance between work and family
A work-life balance allows you to meet the demands of your job without sacrificing your personal and family life. It prevents you from having to experience burnout that 87% of American workers experience these days.
The most efficient way to achieve this balance is by working from home. Taking the commute out of the equation is already a significant improvement, and most people love this change. Harvard Business School recently conducted a survey where 81% of respondents prefer working from home or a hybrid schedule.
Regardless of whether you work remotely or on-site, you’ll find these tips crucial in helping you create a better work-life balance.
1. Let go of perfectionism
Most of us mistake perfectionists as being high achievers. However, the latter doesn’t sacrifice precious family time to get things done perfectly at work.
Here are some tell-tale signs of perfectionism:
- Judgmental and highly critical. Perfectionists often focus on imperfections, causing them to ignore even small accomplishments.
- “Almost perfect” is not an option. Anything less than perfect is already a failure to perfectionists because of their all-or-nothing thinking.
- Fear is the source of motivation. High achievers motivate themselves by imagining how good it feels to achieve a goal. On the other hand, fear drives perfectionists because they’re always afraid that they’re not good enough.
- Procrastination. The fear of failure can cause a perfectionist to overthink things. They end up not taking action until they’re able to iron out every aspect of the task.
When you’re a perfectionist, you tend to spend more hours at work, sacrificing time you would’ve given to yourself or your family. Accept that nothing is perfect. The first step in achieving a flexible lifestyle is to let go of perfectionism.
2. Learn to unplug
Did you know that most Americans are oblivious to the habit of checking their phones every 10 minutes? Technology has become essential to our lives and helps us accomplish tasks faster. However, it can also create too many distractions.
It’s impossible to unplug entirely while at work because you have to be reachable in case of emergencies. However, you can choose to set aside unimportant personal texts and emails for later. Likewise, when with your family, work-related tasks (that aren’t urgent) can wait until you’re at the office. Doing this will allow you to be present and make the most of your time, balancing work and family.
3. Look for a job that you’ll love
Stop locking yourself out from opportunities. If you don’t love your job, either find a way to focus on the positive aspects or look for another job you’ll truly enjoy. Restricting yourself to a job you hate has a negative impact on your well-being, such as:
- Losing sleep because of anxiety or nightmares about work.
- Decreased motivation that hurts your productivity.
- Lingering stress that affects your quality time with your family.
- A compromised immune system because of the pressure, resulting in other mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety.
While it’s impossible to move to a new job overnight, look for what you appreciate about your current position. Meanwhile, start exploring other opportunities that match your passion and allow you to earn at the same time. Vlogging and video presentations of products you love are some great examples of side hustles, which may eventually turn into full-time jobs.
4. Create time for you and your family
If you’re enjoying your work, it’s natural that you love to spend more time on it. However, jobs are transient while your family is here to stay. Regardless of how devoted you are as an employee, your company can’t match the love and importance of your family.
Besides, prioritizing work over family hurts your productivity. Research has shown that people who achieve work-life balance are 21% more productive.
Making time for your loved ones is more effective if you schedule it ahead of time. It will help you prioritize the work tasks and issues you need to address before your family dates.
5. Start slowly but be consistent
Balancing your time between your work and family doesn’t have to be done in one fell swoop—it doesn’t work this way at all. Balance is an ongoing process, so it’s best you start slowly and remain consistent.
Cutting your work hours abruptly from 60 to 40 may create chaos. A considerable lifestyle change such as this should always start slowly. If you’re not able to join family dinners on weekdays, begin with one dinner a week. You can gently increase the frequency as you get comfortable with this small change. As with any significant life change, starting with small habits can make it last.
Achieve balance by giving priority to both work and family
These tips can help you work toward achieving your equilibrium. Lean into a more flexible mindset, with the goal of both getting things done at work and investing time and energy to have fun with your family.
Opportunities to work from home with comfortable schedules can help you create a better work and family life.
Do you want to achieve balance quickly? Contact us, and our team at Vector can help set you up.