Do These 3 Things Before You End Up Wishing Your Life Away
Close to 1 in 3 people are unsatisfied with their work-life balance, and 1 in 2 with life overall…
There’s nothing wrong with looking forward to the weekend and enjoying some downtime. However, it is a problem when the week becomes something to get through until Friday evening comes around!
We’re all guilty (some more than others) of handing over our happiness to future events: maybe we clock-watch, or believe a better life exists hours, days, or even years after the current phase we’re stuck in.
“What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while,” says Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project.
Now, if this is true, and most of us go to work five out of seven days a week — shouldn’t we be adapting habits for a healthy work-life balance at some point…?
So, at Streetbees, we asked our global community for their insight on how to maintain a work-life balance — and here’s what we found.
- Build a strong morning and evening routine
2 in 3 Americans told us they feel exhausted by their work. A similar number of Brits say the same (64%). We all know how tempting it is to come home after a long day and curl up on the couch with some Netflix and heaps of food.
But it is critical to your total well-being as well as self worth to spend your hours outside of work on the most important things in your life. As Darren Hardy, author of The Compound Effect, says: ‘Morning and evening routines are the “bookends” of a prosperous life’.
When asked how to achieve a good balance between work-related stress and recovery time, one male (28) said: “I have a planned and well scheduled calendar, I make sure I do my morning rituals and engage in exercises. I avoid taking home arguments and misunderstanding from work. I try to differentiate both work and my personal life as to avoid having a burnout. A good rest is what I don’t joke with. And family too — especially involving in recreational activities with them.”
A recurring response amongst over 2,000 of our bees included an active lifestyle and a moderately healthy diet.
“Eat healthy, exercise and pray”, said a female respondent, aged 30.
“Practicing yoga helps me be calm and relax”, said another female respondent, aged 36.
2. Alter your feelings about your work
Over 65% of respondents said their life satisfaction depended on feelings they had about their work.
Although we all have bills to pay, if your situation allows some wiggle room, base your choice of work on purpose, not just a paycheck. Search for a job that offers you a strong sense of meaning.
Of course, this doesn’t mean you have to quit your current 9–5. In fact, 59% of our respondents actually feel motivated by their current work.
When asked how a good work-life balance can be achieved, a female respondent, aged 45, said: “A more positive attitude towards work, nurturing good relationships and communicating among other employees.”
3. Make time for a passion project
Many people find it hard to actually put their creative ideas to work, but the trick is in building a habit. Focusing your attention and energy on something other than your paid job will be life and career changing.
Time and time again, our respondents expressed their need for expressing creativity outside their work.
“It would be great to be more creative”, said a female respondent, aged 24. Another respondent (female, 52) said: “I’d like to take on more responsibility or come up with a plan”.
So, whether you’re feeling unmotivated by your work, along with 22% of our respondents, or you’re simply unsatisfied with life (1 in 2, out of over 2,000 people surveyed!) — pick an issue you care about, and do something about it.
And in the meantime, while you’re finding that sweet work-life balance, remember these words by Oprah Winfrey: “Your job is not always going to fulfill you, there will be some days that you just might be bored, other days you might not feel like going to work at all — go anyway. Your job is not who you are, it’s just what you’re doing on the way to who you will become.”
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A quick word on our methodology: The figures in the article are taken from global Streetbees community members, carried out in May 2018. All of the data was collected by mobile and web surveys, and is accurate to within 3 percentage points 19 times out of 20.
