In the past few years, “work-life balance” has become a popular phrase, but the more we hear about it, the more impossible it seems to achieve. This is because it seems like most people now agree that it’s no longer possible, and the consequences are written about every day. We’re tired, not productive, and working longer hours, and surveys tell us over and over how little time we have because of work. Let’s face it, it’s not unusual to set aside a couple of hours on a Sunday to catch up on emails or have a day when we stay late at work to get our to-do lists under control.
We no longer have a clear line between work and home, and the 9-to-5 seems to be a thing of the past.
The results of this way of thinking can sometimes be scary. Japan is a good example of what happens when people work too much. People in this country are known for being overworked and expected to work long hours. This is so bad that overtime laws had to be made to stop people from working all hours of the day. Things have gotten so bad that they are actually killing people. It is also having an effect on the birth rate in Japan, and the word “Karshi” has been made up to mean “death by overwork,” which shows that a different approach is needed.
This deadly problem in Japan is slowly spreading to workplaces in the UK. This may seem like an extreme example, but it’s a great way to show how out of control things can get when work-life balance isn’t taken into account. Employers must be responsible for their employees’ health and happiness, which is something we’re seeing more of in the UK. However, it’s also the employee’s job to use their own skills and keep their work-life balance in check, since we’re the ones in charge of how we spend our time.
So, how do you find a balance between work and life in a world that is always demanding and hard to turn off? The answer is to learn to combine work and life instead of trying to keep them in balance. This means recognising that work and life will always be connected and acting in that way. In the end, to get the most out of your time at home, you need to be there. This makes a clear line between home and work, which can make you feel different emotions when you think about them separately.
The key to balancing work and home life is to be able to focus on what’s in front of us and know that we can say no to requests that will make it harder for us to focus on either our home or work lives.
Finding a healthy balance, no matter how much time you spend at home and how much time you spend at work, comes from making good use of your time and listening to old advice. Find time in your day to eat well, drink water, and get some fresh air. You can do all of these things during your lunch break. This can be especially helpful because exercise reduces stress by releasing endorphins, which make you feel good and improve or stabilise your mood.
Employers are starting to see the dangers of overwork, and since the UK has a low productivity rate, they need to change their ways. This is not a one-way process, though, and people are just as responsible for making the change as employers are. This means to help yourself as much as possible, you need to set limits and stick to them. No one can work long hours all the time, so if you want to get to the top of your field, you need to pay attention to your body, take breaks, and work hard in short bursts. If we keep trying to balance work and personal life in a responsible and reasonable way, we’ll help not only ourselves but also the people we care about and the company we work for.
