Protecting your Life/Work Balance

Before or after a burnout, our habits, thinking patterns, lifestyles will all play a part in renewing our energy or draining it.  If we have experienced a heavy period at work or a challenging life event that has left us exhausted, our resistance to fatigue and stress is lower.  It is all the more important for us to schedule a regular recovery period, in order to prevent us from hitting the wall of a burnout or returning to a state of burnout.

Here are three simple measures you can put into place to protect your system and allow yourself the space to be refreshed instead of overstretched.

Key No 1:  Create margins of unbooked space in your diary

Do you have room to breathe between your professional meetings or your personal activities?  Block a half-hour between meetings and allow your brain to absorb the main points, take some time to gather your thoughts and plan your actions.  A break also permits your emotions and mind to return to a calm state and to be prepared for the next task of the day.

Key No 2:  Set some limits, but avoid blurry lines

Accept that your body has limits as well as your mind.  You cannot be effective non-stop.  That is humanly impossible, so why drag your body through that?  So set yourself some barriers.  Decide what time your working day begins, and when it ends, and don’t let the lines become blurred… do you reply to your emails while watching the news or your favourite series?   Do you bend to requests for you to attend an extra late meeting or frequent evening social events ‘necessary in the context of work’ ?

If you catch your mind telling you that you are lazy or not playing the game, just tell yourself that you are the decision-maker for your life.  Perhaps you have the impression that many colleagues are working harder than you, but perhaps that is just your belief.  Have you asked them if they really want to stay that late, and are they dealing with pressure well at the moment?  Why not become the model of a healthier life balance?  You could set your alarm a little earlier each week until it’s at the reasonable time that you have decided on to leave for home.  You could set yourself a time limit to finish one task, and go deep into focus for that time with the conviction that anything else can wait until the next day.  Another ploy is to book a social event in the evening, which obliges you to leave your workplace.  See it as a reward or a non-negotiable appointment.

Key No 3:  Is your time bank in debit?

Have a good look at your diary and how you spend your time.  One of the habits that leads to exhaustion is the dedication or investment of an increasing percentage of time to your work, to an unreasonable level.  However, you may not be aware that this is happening.  Ask a colleague, ask your partner or close friend if they think you are spending too much time on work.  This can develop over months or even years as a way of life.  You can begin to forget yourself.  Do you find it difficult to say yes to social invitations?  Are you truly switched off on the weekend?

 A healthy life (for body, mind and emotions) includes social life, intellectual development, leisure, space to do nothing but gaze at nature, spiritual meaning… When you observe your diary and note down what happens outside work, what do you notice?  How is the balance between the things you do for your boss or for your own company, and the things you do for fun?

Treat yourself.  If you feel unable to tear yourself away from a work-focussed week, tell yourself that this will benefit your energy levels and motivation for work.  Reflect on what used to be your main passion, what things you dreamed of doing.  Write a list of 40 dreams.  Which (of these) have you lost or put aside in the drive to achieve or in climbing the professional ladder?  What would give you the most pleasure?  Photography, joining a football club, visiting the cinema more often, walking in nature, joining a charity to give back to the community… these are all some things to get your thinking going.  What is the cost of NOT sustaining your out-of-work activities?

Let’s think about how can you motivate yourself.  If you split your life into pieces like a pie, which aspect of your life gives you joy?  Every part should bring you joy, and not merely the professional activity.  Visualise how you could increase your relaxation, your inspiration, personal reading, physical wellbeing or your connection with friends as you reinvest in these social activities.  If at first it requires some discipline to carve out that time, it will become easier to close the door mentally on your ‘job’ and enter the ‘home’ domain.

I hope this gives you some ideas for feasible actions that you can introduce to add joy to your life.