Everyone knows that no matter how much business advice you read, you only have a certain number of hours in the day to apply them. While entrepreneurs and business owners opening their first startup will be tempted to work more hours in the day than anyone else, striking a work/life balance is pretty much essential for anyone to keep their sanity and happiness while being employed in any firm. It’s, of course, true that you can expect a heavier workload than most employees, but at what cost?
We’d suggest that scheduling time for your personal free time is worthwhile from the get-go, no matter your business ideals. Recent studies have confirmed that the perfect amount of free time for someone to be happy in a day is 7 hours, but that can seem over-generous in the wake of the modern working market.
It’s likely that factoring in commute times and extra home work or overtime, that figure is closer to 3 / 4 hours, that is if sleeping is important to you (it should be.) For this reason, it’s important to understand how your home situation impacts of your work performance, and simply how you should unwind away from work. Progressing down both of those avenues can help your work efficiency increase because your stress and efforts are being preserved and maintained and with it your emotional and mental health. What follows are some tips to help you out with this:
Social Health
Your social health is important to consider. For those who are working in business capacities, the workplace relationships you foster can sometimes be trying, or at least predicated on an ulterior financial motive. How many people in your office can you foster genuine friendships with without it affecting your work? It’s possible, but it can be hard to do. A healthy alternative, or supplement, is to make friends outside of work in hobbies completely separated in anything to do with your work life.
This allows you to draw a solid line in the sand, affording you the opportunity to work with relaxation and understanding, and socialize that way too. Hanging with work friends, especially those you manage can be worthwhile to foster great relationships, but the workplace relationship can sometimes be artificial, and self-governing yourself tightly when you’re out and enjoying yourself in the presence of employees can be a difficult thing to get right.
Mental Health
It’s no surprise that the strenuous mental efforts of running an enterprise (of any size,) can take their toll. Long nights in the office, long exposure to stress and anxiety for the future can have pretty damaging results. Also, working long hours and therefore not exercising can be troubling for your mental health. It’s important to keep on top of it and make sure the mental health of your family is working well. Instead of functioning as the carer for an elderly relative, providing them the best Alzheimers care can help you fully relax, knowing they are taken care of in the best way possible. To extend you potentially needing that help yourself, it’s worthwhile distressing and meditating where possible. An overactive amygdala responsible for stress can wear on your grey matter after a while, even triggering early-onset mental deterioration. For this reason, it’s super important to make sure your cognitive faculties are in order. Simply practicing a hobby or working towards an outside goal can help. So can meditating. So can spending time in nature. Before long, you will find a resurgence in your positive mental health, and feel willing to apply that to your chosen work duty in future.
With these health tips, your work is sure to flourish from a solid balance of job and life perspectives.
