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It’s time to change your mind.
Well, your mindset at least.
It’s time to embrace the idea of putting your needs first.
You might already be aware that your work-life balance is off.
It might be getting to the point where you just can’t disregard it anymore. You know it’s time for a change.
What are you waiting for? Something bad to happen?
You can’t just piddle around and wait for disaster to strike. You also can’t neglect work and spend your entire day binge-watching a show or sleeping.
Let’s handle this responsibly by giving ourselves permission to tend to our own needs. Instead of doing nothing, you can be proactive and determine if you just need to chill out or actually take some time off.
This will keep you from feeling forced to work through your stress if you don’t have to.
Sick or tired
Getting sick is no picnic. You can just feel it creeping up. Most times, it’s tempting to push through.
Think about it though:
- How effective are you actually going to be?
- What quality of work are you even able to produce?
Try to take some time to allow yourself to heal. Ask to leave early so you can get some rest. If your boss says no, sneeze on them. I’m kidding.. start whining instead.
On the other hand, you could be exhausted or burnt out. You might need a day or two to figure out a new sleep schedule or just give your brain a rest from work stuff.
If you’ve ever seen the movie Office Space, Peter is clearly suffering from burnout. His anxiety goes way beyond Monday. He’s just done with his mundane job and wants more for his life.
With some jobs, you’re just not allowed any semblance of balance. They require you to write reports they’ll never read or make you give up your days off.
It is almost guaranteed these jobs will lead to burnout.
*Either you stay aggravated or you change things up. It might be time to start a side hustle to bring in a little bit of money so you can afford to scale back on work.*
Adjust or take time off?
I would like to state for the record that I know some of you are neatniks, but that’s no reason to call out of work. You can “spring clean” on the weekends in small doses or hire someone to do it for you.
Taking time off might just be in the form of an extended lunch. When I worked at one retail job, I would eat my lunch, then take a 20-minute nap in my car. I needed it. Customers are crazy.
It’s also possible you might be able to negotiate your hours. If you’re not client-ready at 7am, try asking for a 9-6 shift instead.
Another example is if you need to be home with your kids at a specific time of day, figure out a schedule that might work and present it to your boss.
Adjusting your schedule might be exactly what you need.
Be strategic
Miniscule tweaks in your schedule would be ideal so you don’t end up bogged down with work after a temporary schedule upset.
When things calm down and you get a chance to breathe a bit, you can get back to establishing your work-life balance.
The goal is to strategize, not just hope for tactical wins.
If you work for yourself, taking care of yourself is the responsible thing to do.
Making sure your needs are being met by having a work-life balance is a great way to step up and continue to help others.
After all, you can’t pour from an empty cup, right?
resources
Struggling to find that work-life balance? Having a hard time shutting down the “work” side of your brain?
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