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4 Tips for a Better Work Life Balance

You like your career, and you don’t mind putting in your 40 hours a week. However, when you go home you have to take care of yourself, as well as kids, spouse, and other members of your family. You try to spend time with friends when you can, and you try to keep your home clean and your projects under control. There is no surprise that you have a lot on your plate. So how you manage you work life balance?

According to Mental Health America:

It's no surprise that more than one in four Americans describe themselves as super stressed.

And that’s not balanced – or healthy….it’s easy to forget that as our stress levels spike, our productivity plummets”. A recent study at Harvard Business School and Stanford University found that stress at work is just as damaging to a person’s health as secondhand smoke.

To make sure that you have more time to do the things you love, and to make you feel healthier mentally and physically, we made a list of the best tips to help you pursue the ultimate work life balance:

1. Stick to your schedule:
If we had time for it, work would fill 24 hours in a day. To keep things from invading our “home time” make a schedule (and stick to it). You can even use scheduling to help you manage your time away from the office. Whenever plans start to form, write it down in a planner or log it in your phone so that you can keep work from invading on personal time.

2. Don’t stress:
At some point everyone will find themselves trying to do it all at once. Balancing a family life, a career, and hobbies can feel like a lot sometimes. Take time to figure out what is most important in your life and focus on that. Everything else will fall into place in some way or another.

3. Don’t try to do too much:
Plan for downtime! Sometimes just planning for a small 15-minute break can make all the difference in making you feel less overwhelmed. It is okay to take a step back every once in a while to recharge.

4. Enjoy your time away from the office:
Don’t waste your whole weekend on the things you “have” to do. Try taking your family to a movie, or grab a coffee and browse your local bookstore. No matter what you do, make sure to take a few hours or a day to do something that makes you happy.

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About Choices Psychotherapy

Choice is the foundation for a change. Choice speaks to the reality that there is not one right answer for all.  At Choices Psychotherapy, we are committed to empowering clients and their families to identify options while assisting in creating a personal roadmap toward health and recovery.

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