8 More Ways to Achieve Work-Life Balance While Working From Home

What’s work-life balance? Trying to balance work life and personal life so you’re aren’t left feeling overwhelmed, overworked, and neglecting your loved ones. If you struggle to put work down or you’re not getting enough time to spend with your family, then you might be facing problems with work-life balance.

You are not alone! More and more people are having a tough time managing work life and personal life, regardless if they work a 9 to 5 or work at home, but it can be increasingly more difficult for the work-from-home crowd.

According to this source, the U.S. ranks 30th out of 38 countries in work/life balance, in the bottom 20 percent! As the work culture continues to shift, the work week feels like it’s getting longer and longer, but people have much more to do than just work:

• Personal care
• Education
• Eating and drinking
• Caring for household and non-household members
• Phone calls, email, misc. communication
• Plus, more!

If you haven’t read part one on maintaining a healthy work-life balance, you can check it out here.

Keep reading while we share eight more ways to achieve work-life balance while working from home.

Achieving Healthy Work-Life Balance

How can work life and personal life get imbalanced? There are several factors that can contribute to this, including long commutes, incompetent workers or bosses, long hours, and more. Check out these eight tips to help you get your work-life balance back!

1. Limit Screen Time

Technology is one of the biggest life interruptions and biggest contributors to work-life imbalance. Did you know that 40 percent of people say it’s ok to answer an urgent work email at the dinner table?

Disconnecting at the end of the day isn’t as hard as you might think. You can get so much more done if you just put your phone down. Give it a try and see how much better you feel.

2. Practice Self Care

This means eat right, exercise, meditate, and be good to yourself. It can also mean taking time off, going on vacation, being present in the moment and clearing your mind.

3. Don’t Overcommit Yourself

This can be tough working from home or if you run your transcription business or other small business.  It’s easy to put yourself on the back burner and just say yes to the next project. It’s okay to say no and not feel guilty about it.  Voice your opinion and turn down projects sometimes. This will go a long way in helping you achieve work-life balance.

4. Play to Your Strengths

Nobody is good at everything. Don’t try to be all things to everyone. Focus on your strengths and if you need help in other areas, outsource it!

5. Set Work Hours

This is a big one. For 9-to-5 workers, many times, employees take their work home with them by physically working at home after work, attending to work calls, work emails, and more. For small business owners, it can be easy to spend every free moment working on the business. 

This can be avoided by setting work hours. Once the work schedule has ended for the day, everything gets turned off and work is not resumed until the next work day. This might take some practice and getting used to, but stick to it.

6. Take Time to Manage Your Finances

For those who work from home in their own business, oftentimes business owners work around the clock because they have money on the brain. It’s important to feel confident about your finances and nothing helps with this better than checking in.

Set a designated time to check your finances. If there’s a cash flow issue, getting in front of it is super helpful in navigating the financial landscape. For help with accounting and bookkeeping, consider hiring a bookkeeper to help you or invest in financial tools.

7. Use Technology to Your Benefit

This doesn’t mean answering your phone for work calls at dinner or on your time off, like over the weekend. Instead, use technology tools like Skype for meetings to avoid long commutes, for example.  Just remember to switch them off so you’re not tempted to stay connected to work during off times.

8. Outsource 

This plays off #4, but deserves a point all of its own. Hire help before you think you need it. This will save you time, save you money, and save your peace of mind. Trying to be the jack-of-all-trades will not get you far. Voice your needs and ask for help.

Our Take

Taking a hold of your work-life balance might be challenging, but it’s totally worth it and will contribute to helping you live a more healthy and happy life.  We hope you find these tips helpful and you try one or more of them to achieve a greater work-life balance.

Your Turn

Do you have tips you use to help with work-life balance? Share with us and comment down below so can hear from you!