Working 9-to-5

My SDJ is stuck because my job is getting out of control. My work/life balance has no balance, and I am feeling off. It's a terrible feeling, and one that is tough to correct in the current state of affairs at my job. I can see that I have gone a while with no journal entries. That's because my work took me hostage. 

So allow me to take a detour from the SDJ (or maybe this is the point of the SDJ?) and reflect on my work situation. 

There are a lot of sayings out there that remind us that work is a job:

"Work is a 4-letter word." 

"It's called work for a reason."

I am always reminded that work feels so important when we are in the thick of it. And then we take a week's vacation (if we are lucky), and we have distance and perspective, and we are reminded that it's just a job. 

The idea that work is an inflated part of our lives occurred to me at my husband's grandmother's funeral two years ago. Nannie was in her 90s when she passed, and she was a wonderful grandmother to my husband and a very special great-grandmother to my kids. My husband spoke at her funeral and talked about her famous dishes, her funny expressions, her love of her family, her favorite pastimes, etc. Nannie's youngest child also spoke as did a family friend. The theme was definitely Nannie's love of living and her ability to create and maintain a tight-knit family. Not one person mentioned her job, her work life, her resume. And she worked for most of her life. 

That is not to say that if you have a "Big Job" - or a career trying to cure a disease for example -- that your legacy will not be wrapped up (in part) in terms of your profession. It could be. But for most of us who are plugging along and working 9-to-5 in a more common role, our jobs are just not going to define our lives. Or we shouldn't let it.

Easier said than done, right?

So how do we strike that balance?

I am going back to the fabulous resources on BetterUp.com for some guidance. I found this article, "How to Have Good Work/Life Balance." Let's see what they say! 

Feeling like all you do is work? You’re not alone. Several statistics show that more than 60% of U.S. employees feel like their work-life balance is out of whack. But how do you balance your work-life with so much work happening at home? And how do you balance your workload to be more efficient? 

Is it more than hitting a weekly yoga class? And, most importantly, in a world where the boundaries between work and home are increasingly blurred, how do you figure out what works?

What does work-life balance mean?

Healthy work-life balance refers to maintaining a harmonious relationship between your work and personal life. It involves consciously managing your time and energy to meet both professional and personal commitments while prioritizing self-care and well-being. 

In an ideal world, this line of thinking goes: after work, we’re able to spend time on things that nourish us as people. This could involve spending time with friends and family or engaging in a hobby.

Some characteristics of a healthy work-life balance may include:

Setting boundaries: This involves establishing clear boundaries between work and personal life by defining specific working hours and separating work-related tasks from personal activities.

Time management: Efficiently organizing and prioritizing tasks, ensuring that you allocate enough time for work responsibilities as well as personal pursuits, such as spending time with family, engaging in hobbies, or pursuing personal goals

Stress management: Implementing strategies to manage stress levels, such as practicing mindfulness, engaging in regular physical activity, taking breaks, and unplugging from work-related activities when needed

Flexibility: Having the ability to adapt and adjust your schedule to accommodate unforeseen circumstances or personal needs without jeopardizing work commitments

Why is work-life balance so important?

Just like in our diets, to stay healthy and energized for the long haul, people need variety. When it comes to work-life balance, people need to engage in a variety of activities and rest. We tend to fall into the trap of believing that we can be productive all the time, or that an eight-hour day at work equates to eight hours of output. However, that is hard, if not impossible, for many individuals to achieve.

Plus, overworking has negative consequences for both employees and employers.

Workaholics and those who struggle to practice self-care find themselves at higher risk for burnout, fatigue, and stress-related health issues. Poor work-life balance can also leave employees working more hours but being less productive.

The article goes on to explore why being off balance is bad. I get that right now because I am living it. I am going to skip down to the part that helps me solve the problem!

How to improve work-life balance:

The truth is, there’s no prescription that will fit everyone. And you may have to play with what time scale feels most relevant to you. Trying to find balance in any single day may feel frustrating, but the balance may be easier to achieve across a week or more.

The best way to determine the best balance for you is by learning to check in with your inner compass — and your results.

With intentionality and a little creativity, you can recalibrate your expectations and reset your work-home balance. 

Here are 12 tips to have good your work-life balance:

1. Plan ahead
Plan ahead to combine work activities with leisure, social, or fitness activities. If you find yourself with several virtual meetings back-to-back, try taking them while you go for a walk. You could also take a call outside (if ambient noise allows!) or invite a friend over to work with you.

2. Embrace the way your brain works
Use productivity hacks like a Pomodoro timer to work in short, focused bursts. Block out all other distractions so you can make the most of your time.

3. Set blocks of time for different tasks
Designate a time to check (and respond to) messages, a time to take meetings, and a time to do mentally-intensive work. It helps to anchor these tasks around the times that you are personally more productive.

4. End work at a certain time
There’s a saying that “work expands to fill the time allotted,” and when you work from home, it’s even easier to let work spill over into personal time. Set a time to end work for the day, and reinforce it by powering down work-related devices, locking your office, or scheduling something afterward.

5. Enlist technology to help you unplug
Use an app to block distracting websites during the day, and then block work tools after hours. If you can, restrict work to one device, or try to keep one work-free device so you can disconnect completely.

6. Go out for lunch, or enjoy lunch with coworkers
Even if you’re working from home, you can go out for your lunch break or connect with colleagues. The change of pace will be refreshing — and, of course, will remind you to actually eat something.

7. Take time off
When you’re home all the time, you tend to try to work through illnesses that certainly would have kept you home from the office. Time off, including sick time, personal time, vacations, and bereavement, are important ways to nourish your well-being.

8. Practice mindfulness
Mindfulness makes imbalance hard to ignore. When you practice mindfulness techniques, like meditation or breath awareness, you become more in-tune with your emotions and physical sensations. Paying attention to these feelings helps you learn how to notice when you might be suppressing a need in order to work. It’s hard to return to that spreadsheet after you notice your stomach rumbling. 

9. Find something you love outside of work to engage in
If you have something that you’re excited about doing after work, it will make it easier to disconnect from work messages or end your day at a predetermined time. Our hobbies boost our energy and vitality. When we play and feel creative, we bring our fresh selves back to work. 

10. Reconsider work that makes you yearn for balance
If your work feels completely unrelated to the activities that stir your interest, enthusiasm, energy, and sense of meaning, you may need to look at how you can change the work you do or the way you do it. While work doesn’t need to (and can’t) satisfy all of your needs for purpose, meaning, social connection, and challenge, we can expect work to provide moments of satisfaction, accomplishment, and connection.

11. Communicate with your manager
Poor work-life balance is often exacerbated by the fear that we’re not doing enough. Talking to your leaders can help you prioritize where to spend your time. If there really is too much to do, it might be time to talk about hiring additional help or streamlining certain tasks.

12. Work with a coach or therapist
If you feel overwhelmed, stuck, or don’t know where to begin to disconnect, working with a professional can be invaluable. A coach or counselor can ask the right questions and help you identify which changes will make the biggest impact and how to get started.

One word of advice: start small. Although you may be anxious for your work-life balance to improve, your work habits have been built over time and likely won’t change overnight. If your goal, for example, is to reduce screen time, trying to restrict yourself to a certain number of hours will probably just frustrate you. You’re more likely to stick with a new habit if you start with a smaller target — say, one five-minute tech-free break a day.