10 Tips to Achieve a Work/Life Balance

They’re the questions that torment us; Do you knock off at 5:00 to meet your pals at the pub? Or do you put in the extra hours so that your boss sits up and takes notice? Achieving a work/life balance that suits you is hard, but not impossible, as these tips show., , Do…, , , Make friends at work , Time spent with work colleagues is work… of sorts. By cultivating friendships with others in the office, you invite camaraderie and will enjoy spending time at work a lot more. Imagine working with your best friends, how much fun would that be! So make an effort with your co-workers; you’ll enjoy their company more and always have someone to have a drink with after a long day.

Work for as long as you need to, The worst thing about the culture of 9 to 5 is that it avers that you have the perfect amount of work to fit into 7 and a half hours (taking half an hour for lunch). This is of course ridiculous and inefficient – sometimes it means cramming 10 hours worth of work into office hours, and sometimes it means stretching out 5 hours worth of work. Stay in the office for as long as you need to – some days will be lean and some will be manic, leave the office at 5 if you don’t have work to do, leave the office at 10 when you’re crazy busy.

Use your sick days for when you’re well, We’re all entitled to five or so sick days a year – and who wants to spend them lying in bed? Even when you feel terrible drag yourself into work – your bosses will be impressed by what they see as a trooper attitude – and when you do pull a ‘sickie’ they’ll think that you must be horrifically ill.

Suck it up, So you’ve got to get into work at 8:00 tomorrow morning, but a friend’s having boozy birthday drinks at a great new bar tonight. Do you put in an appearance and then quickly go home? Or perhaps you shouldn’t go at all? Nonsense – go, have a great night, and if you’re tired or hungover just suck it up. Sleep is for sissies!

Make the most of your free time, If your free time isn’t spent productively and you spend your Sundays indolently moping around watching Bond movies on itv 2, then you might as well be at work. You can’t achieve a good work/life balance if you don’t have a life, so get planning and make sure you always have a packed diary for the weekend.

Don’t…, , , Try and be a machine, Okay, so obviously it’s important to have fun – and it’s essential to keep busy and see friends etc but at the same time it’s very easy to burnout. If you’re running around London every night, partying, networking and getting less than six hours sleep you will crash. It’s always good to have a few quiet evenings and recharge those batteries.

Act sycophantically toward your boss , A common misconception is the idea that if you ask your boss for loads of work, or act obsequiously towards him or her – you’ll become the apple of their eye. This really is a long-shot and the chances are that your boss won’t even notice the extra effort you put in. Do the work you’re supposed to do – well. That’s the surest way to ensure that you are successful in your career and don’t get overworked.

Drink too much, The British are great boozers and we could outdrink representatives of most other countries. However, there’s a lot to be said for eschewing alcohol as much as possible, especially on work nights. By reducing your general alcohol intake you can avoid those terrible office hangovers, therefore becoming more productive at work and getting all your tasks finished sooner rather than later.

Dip your pen in the company ink, It might be tempting to achieve work/life equilibrium by dating a co-worker, therefore having work and life in the same place but there are several reasons why this is a bad idea – not least the awkwardness of post-breakup work conversations. There have been success stories from office romances but as a general rule, they are best avoided.

Bring your work home, Okay, so this is sometimes unavoidable but it’s still something to be wary of, especially if you are starting – or have – a family. Bringing work home is, by definition, a disruption of the work/life balance. Those you live with will resent it if it becomes a regular fixture of home life and so try to keep in within the confines of the office as much as you can.

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