5 Habits of People With Healthy Work-Life Balance

"When you have balance in your life, work becomes an entirely different experience. There is a passion that moves you to a whole new level of fulfillment and gratitude, and that's when you can do your best, for yourself and for others."

— Cara Delevingne

We talk a lot about work-life balance, but a total 50/50 balance is unrealistic because the human experience is dynamic. In this post, I will use the term work-life harmony.

People who maintain a healthy balance have habits that enable them to be efficient at work and enjoy a fulfilling private life. Read on to discover which of these habits you already have and which ones you may want to consider.

1. They Have Clear Boundaries and Communicate Them Honestly.

To achieve work-life harmony, we need to clearly separate our personal and professional lives. We set boundaries and effectively communicate them with others while honoring theirs. Case in point: If you regularly take work home over the weekends, you may struggle with saying no if your boss constantly expects you to work on never-ending projects in your private time.

As a recovering co-dependent people pleaser, I know too well how uncomfortable communicating your boundaries can feel. But being open about your limits and capacity is for the good of everyone. Neither your boss nor your family benefits when you run yourself to the ground because you always say yes to everyone and everything.

Let others know what you need and what doesn't work for you. After a stressful week, you may prefer to stay home, but your friends want to go out. It's okay to say, "No, thank you. I appreciate the invite, but can we plan this for another day?"

Or if your boss suddenly assigns you another urgent project besides the one he's expecting today, you could mention the pending deadline and ask him what he'd like you to prioritize first.

Porus/poor boundaries as a cause of burnout is a Pandora's box we don't discuss enough. But burnout prevention is a topic for another time. Be sure to subscribe to my newsletter so you don't miss the related post.

2. They Practice Self-Awareness.

I'm a self-awareness advocate—not navel-gazing or judging ourselves harshly, but healthy self-reflection with compassion and curiosity.

Because it's hard to change something we're incognizant of, self-awareness is akin to turning the lights on in a room so we don't keep stubbing our toes in the dark. Regularly assessing how you feel about your routines helps you adjust and be flexible with your version of work-life harmony.

Every once in a while, ask yourself questions like:

How is my personal life - what's going well, and what can be better?

How is my professional life - what's going well, and what can be different?

How do I feel about my overall well-being right now?

Journaling is an excellent self-awareness practice because it gets your thoughts out of your mind and onto paper. Objectively reflecting on your answers makes it easier to identify areas for adjustment to improve your work-life harmony.

3. They Know The Value of Time Management.

Time is the great equalizer; technically, none of us can actually "manage time"

What we can manage, however, is ourselves and how we use the 24 hours we all have. Our daily habits determine where our time goes, and trying to stay on top of things without planning and priorities is an uphill battle. Creating a schedule that includes your private and professional commitments lets you see how and where you allocate your 24 hours.

A calendar with hourly slots is one of the most underrated time management tools. You can pencil in your to-dos, and while at it, consider a to-not-do list as you plan your work-life harmony.

4. They Minimize or Avoid Distractions.

We live in the attention economy, with countless voices simultaneously braying or trying to entice us. It's been said we have the attention span of a goldfish, a mosquito, or an itchy gnat. It would be interesting to observe a gnat with an itch.

But I digress.

The fact is, the internet, multiple devices, and cable TV have us tethered to technology. And while it's impossible to eliminate distractions completely, people with a healthy work-life balance seem to have specific ways to minimize them. They're not mindlessy doomscrolling war updates, watching TikToks at peak performance hours, or fighting political keyboard warriors first thing in the morning. When they indulge in distractions, it's intentional; they're not unaware of focus hijackers. As I mentioned in a recent blog post, distractions, like a Trojan horse, come in many disguises.

Social media notifications are trojan horses - potential weapons of mass distraction. These apps have many benefits, but too much of a good thing can become harmful. One of the ways to avoid tech distractions is to log out completely, turn off notifications, or uninstall the apps from your phone. I only use social media on my desktop and occasionally break up with them when on a digital detox. The temporary deactivation does wonders for my focus and well-being. Then, like a toxic relationship, we get back until the next breakup :-)

Only you can determine what distractions affect your work-life harmony and experiment with different minimization ways.

5. They Practice Self-Care.

People with good work-life harmony practice self-care and understand its value in relieving stress, increasing energy, and preventing burnout.

Self-care is akin to filling your cups first so that you show up from a place of abundant energy in your work and relationships. It's about giving yourself the same kindness, compassion, attention, and time you give others. Self-care is taking time to rest and recharge instead of pushing yourself, aka toxic productivity and the hustle-and-grind culture. The fact is, we show up better professionally when we take time out to recharge.

Take a moment to think about what relaxes, energizes, and brings you joy. It may be a home spa day, gardening, regular date nights, family outings, or creative activities. Plan and pencil in some self-care, and I promise that once you experience its benefits for your mental, emotional, and physical health, you'll prioritize it more. Your professional and professional relationships will benefit when you're less frazzled because you took the time to fill up your cup.

You can also download my resource for simple self-care ideas below.

In conclusion

While these insights are based on research, working with clients, and personal experience, work-life harmony isn't a one-size-fits-all concept. You determine what works best for you based on your vision, values, and capacity. Consider experimenting with these habits and seeing how things go.

As always, feel free to share your thoughts below and download the recommended resource.

Thanks for being here today, and happy work-life balancing!

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