5 Ways to Strike a Better Work-Life Balance

Managing Stress

In an age when work follows you home on my laptop, and home life can intrude on office time in email and cellphone calls, it’s hard to strike a balance between my career and the rest of my life. And yet, according to Leslie Baker, a licensed marriage and family therapist and instructor in the counseling program  at the University of Phoenix Bay Area Campus, you can — and you must.

“Identifying my priorities and setting boundaries are imperative in creating a better work-life balance,” she says.

Here are five steps toward striking that important equilibrium:

Leave work at the office.

Try keeping my laptop closed — and my work phone switched off — between the time you arrive home from work and the time you go to bed. Make it clear to co-workers that you’re unavailable after, say, 6 pm and on weekends. And treat paid holidays as something other than a chance to catch up on my work. Likewise, Baker says, don’t handle personal matters — making doctor appointments, phoning my kids’ teachers about their schoolwork — while at the office.

Minimize the wasteful stuff

Pinpoint activities that enhance my professional or private life, and keep those on my schedule. Lunching twice a week with a colleague who only wants to complain about my team leader is probably a waste of my time. Spending hours cruising social media and auction sites might be a waste, too. Baker suggests setting aside a specific, short time to wander the web, and sticking to it.

Eat right, sleep well and get moving.

You can’t find balance anywhere without good health. Make time to pack a healthy lunch, or frequent places near the office that offer wholesome choices. Get eight hours of uninterrupted sleep each night. And make exercise a priority, no matter how busy my schedule. Baker says that even a little physical activity each day will boost my energy level and my ability to stay focused.