Workplace settings have rapidly changed over the last couple of years, and along with these changes comes the arising need to establish a healthy work-life balance.
Various factors have influenced the changes in the workplace, from the pandemic preventing people from working in groups in an enclosed setting to advancements in technology allowing workers to move their work away from the office at any time.
While these changes have provided workers with better productivity and management when it comes to tasks, they have also brought new challenges that greatly blur the lines between one’s work life and their personal life.
The blurring of the lines between one’s work life and personal life can often create problems for the individual, as the lack of distinction prevents them from being focused on one task at a time.
Maintaining a work-life balance, or separating one’s personal and professional lives, is a skill that one must have in the current work environment. Here are some reasons why you should maintain a proper work-life balance.
1. To protect your mental health
These days, it has become important for professionals to keep an eye on their mental health. A decline in one’s mental health can prevent progress in the workplace. One can develop chronic stress and then burnout, preventing you from working at your best because you’re too mentally exhausted and unmotivated to do anything.
These issues often stem from the lack of boundaries between one’s work time and resting time. Taking on too much work with too few resting periods can overwork one’s overstimulated mind.
However, maintaining a proper work-life balance can prevent the stress caused by a lack of boundaries. Give yourself the needed time to rest and recuperate mentally by stepping away from work at a specific time and focusing on other personal projects that bring comfort and joy.
2. To ensure proper physical health
Having a healthy work-life balance will not only benefit one’s mental health, but it will also benefit one’s physical health.
The human body is not made to sit in a chair for long periods of time. Being under constant stress brought about by work and having no rest or productive physical activity in between can usually lead to dangerous illnesses that can affect one’s physical wellbeing.
However, maintaining the balance between one’s work and personal life can significantly limit health problems and work absences. Aside from these benefits, a healthy work-life balance can also ensure that your organisation will be more efficient during work hours.
3. To improve work productivity
Staying for long hours at work might seem like you’re contributing to the organisation, but your quality of work can be negatively affected by it. Instead of shifting your attention to something else in order to refresh your mind, you’re only straining yourself.
While some believe that employees can be more productive through pressure and incentives, this is only beneficial for the short term. Studies have shown that those who maintain a steady work-life balance are much more productive than those who do not.
Stepping away from work and allocating time to rest can increase your level of engagement in the workplace. In turn, this can allow you to have a better concentration on the things at work that should take up your attention.
4. To create mindfulness
When one’s work and personal lives overlap, the problems from both will get entangled. You’ll find yourself facing far more challenges than you can deal with, and you’ll have issues being “present” enough in either of the situations.
Having a healthy work-life balance can lead a person to practice mindfulness, allowing them to develop greater control over their focus and ability to concentrate on the task at hand.
Aside from this, having boundaries between one’s work and personal life can reduce stress, allowing you to be more empathetic to both your co-workers, your family and friends.
5. To become more knowledgeable and successful
A healthy work-life balance can be beneficial to one’s career since it can help you establish your goals for success based on your own terms. By having this control, you can prioritise things that are most important to you and your wellbeing.
Balancing one’s work and personal life can also give you the energy and time to explore other aspects of life, expanding your knowledge and making you more well-rounded. This can be beneficial to your career as it will allow you to develop your skill-set outside of your work.
Why you should maintain a healthy work-life balance
In this day and age, it has become easy to be overwhelmed at work and balancing it with one’s personal life can sometimes appear to be impossible.
Having a work-life balance isn’t just setting up certain hours for both, it’s establishing clear mental and physical boundaries between the two and sticking to them.
Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is not only necessary for one’s health and relationships, but it can also improve your work productivity and even your career.