Is Work/Life Balance a Fairytale?
Is Work/Life Balance a Fairytale?
Insight
Sometimes balancing your personal life and work life can seem like an impossible task — even more so when you’re passionate about the work you do. How you achieve that balance can affect the quality of the work you do, and the quality and enjoyment of your life. Luckily, your favorite communications team (to clarify, that’s us, Estipona Group) is happy to share the top four things they keep in mind when striving for work/life balance – flexibility, knowing your limits, enjoying what you do and maximizing your time off.
1. Flexibility
A good balance is going to be different for everyone. Some people thrive working the regular 8a to 5p schedule. It keeps them focused, and they can have set boundaries for when the day is over. Others might find their most groundbreaking ideas for a project during conversations at dinner and then be inspired to hash them out. With a virtual office environment, like the one Estipona Group employees have enjoyed since 2009, there is flexibility to work on your terms, choosing when, where and how you are able to perform at your best.
“I try to find time in my day where I’m like, ‘Oh, I have 45 minutes right here where I can take a break … and just kind of finding the times that fit to be most productive or maybe a little less productive.”
—Chelsey Brice, Account Manager
2. Know Your Limits
It’s okay to stop. If your creative juices have run dry, and you can’t give a project your all anymore, don’t be afraid to give yourself a break. Breaks allow your brain to reset, and come back to a project with a clear mind.
If you can’t seem to “find the time” for a breather, schedule them throughout the day. It’s hard to ignore your well-being when your computer is reminding you to take care of yourself, and make sure to honor your breaks. View them as a sacred time to give your eyes a rest from staring at a screen, to say “hi” to your pets, or to stare at a different screen
(hello, social media😆).
“There’s definitely a point in the day where you go, ‘I’m no longer being productive. I’m writing gibberish.’ And being like, ‘okay, we’re cutting it off and we’ll start fresh tomorrow’.”
—Paige Galeoto, VP of Creative
3. Love What You Do
Work takes up one-third of our lives, (so we better love it!). If you’re still getting burned out and struggling to find balance after allowing yourself flexibility in the work day and setting boundaries, the job itself might be the problem. We’ve all been there, not every job is going to be the perfect fit for you.
Some days even your dream job can be a lot of work and stress, but following these tips can go a long way.
- Connect with the people you enjoy working with.
- Remind yourself of all the great things you love about your job.
- Look back on all the great things you accomplished. Your work is worthwhile!
4. Do What You Love
Figuring out how to make the work part of your life everything you want it to be is just the start. If you want good work/life balance, you also need to focus on optimizing your non-work time and we don’t mean being productive in other ways, we mean really enjoy what you’re doing.
Here at Estipona Group, doing what we love means having a hobby that we can really get into. That may be exercise or creative endeavors like drawing or writing, or it might be something like playing video games or watching favorite shows.
Whether it’s work time or non-work time, if you enjoy what you’re doing and feel rewarded when you do it, your life will feel more balanced. And while we can’t solve all your work/life balance challenges, if you’ve got too many marketing tasks on your plate, we can help.
“Doing stuff after work is important, too. So extracurricular activities are really good for me – rock climbing or volleyball — making sure I’m balancing between physical activities and the mental stuff.”
—Mitchell Awisus, Digital Media Specialist
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