There are times when work can get overwhelming. Juggling between work and personal life can take a toll on people. The need to create a proper work-life balance has become the need of the hour. The COVID-19 pandemic also blurred the lines of what is considered work and personal life since work from home became the new norm. The benefits of creating a healthy work-life balance are several and wide-ranging. It has become quite essential to incorporate that to allow increased efficiency and optimum productivity within working professionals.
Often, people consider the lack of time to be the core issue. However, it is truly the skill of being able to balance the time.
The benefits of maintaining a work-life balance are;
1. Improvement in Mental Health
Working professionals have to go through different kinds of pressure. The pressure of work deadlines or an important project, along with family pressure tends to cause anxiety and stress. You are meant to not just have a working life; there are several things other than that which you can participate in, such as your hobbies or even going on a short trip with family or friends.
An excellent work-life balance encourages that. It encourages that you free up your mind and create self-awareness. Doing something other than just work can give you enough breathing space to keep away negative emotions and thoughts.
2. Better Physical Health
A work-life balance includes maintaining your physical health too. It is to maintain overall health. This entails maintaining good health by going for regular walks or jogging. Exercising, in general, releases hormones in our bodies that keep us active and happy. This positively affects us, and we can carry out our tasks more efficiently.
This also includes maintaining a good sleep cycle, leading to less lethargy and more activity. Practising mindfulness and meditation also has certain good effects on our body and mind.
3. Being At Your Best
Bringing balance into your life ensures that you are at your optimum. Your work performance and quality will improve as you would have ideas and passion, which may over time fade with burnout.
Likewise, your personal life is of equal importance. Being present at social events and genuinely being there for your family and friends is gratifying. Lack of work-life balance can create disbalance with you giving more attention to one side, and the other side would suffer.
4. Improves Relationships
Spending more time at work or expending too much energy on work-related tasks can cause you to fade away from interpersonal relationships. Family life requires you to be there for them when they need you and even when they don’t. It means being present for family functions and football matches.
This aspect also extends to colleagues and superiors at work. Better balance means you can create a positive atmosphere at work as well. Sharing ideas, working on team projects, and generally delivering a better work output is part of this.
Learn why interpersonal relationships are so important: Interpersonal skills rule them all.
5. Increases Creative Thinking
A stressed and burnt-out individual cannot present the best ideas. Our thinking becomes slow, and we can naturally not come up with ideas. To create a creative space, you need to declutter your mind. When you don’t have a work-life balance, you naturally do not have space to think creatively.
Working also requires an open mind. We are not robots who follow orders; we are humans with endless capacities. We can bring a lot to our professional and personal lives.
Simply speaking, happy individuals tend to create a comfortable atmosphere. Poor work-life balance causes extreme stress and unhappiness, which is bound to reflect in all aspects of your life. We should maintain an overall balance to lead a happier and more fulfilling life.
Read more about the future of remote working here Zuperly Thoughts: The future of work from home.
-Anushka Das, content writer
