How to Improve Work Life Balance | feel free

Work-life balance is one of the major driving forces behind productivity levels, job satisfaction, and stress levels. Studies show that employees who work overtime (greater than 40 hours per week) have higher levels of occupational stress, less perceived control over their time, and lower job satisfaction.[1] Therefore, making a conscious effort to protect your personal life and form a healthy balance with your working hours is key when striving for long term productivity and job satisfaction. 

What is Work-Life Balance?

A healthy work life balance looks different for different individuals, depending on their occupation, career goals, and personal priorities. For some, it may involve setting clear boundaries between work hours and personal activities, while for others, it could mean prioritizing a flexible work arrangement, enabling them to juggle work with personal commitments. You can figure out how to improve your work-life balance by finding harmony between your professional and personal responsibilities and interests, which for most people, includes work, family, friends, health, and spiritual wellness.[2,3] 

However, balancing your work and life responsibilities doesn’t necessarily mean working fewer hours, because that can still leave you feeling stressed or unfulfilled. Instead, you can focus on finding meaning and satisfaction in your work, by thinking more about how well you work and how to maximize productivity and performance in the hours that you have.

Challenges to Achieving Work-Life Balance

Although achieving — and maintaining — a healthy work- life balance can be challenging, it should not be considered a luxury, but rather a necessity. Especially in certain industries like banking or consulting, a good work-life balance can be especially hard to achieve due to long hours and the high stress environment of tight deadlines or high-stakes deals. In jobs that drive an always-on-culture, it becomes harder to be successful in terms of time management as well. Despite these challenges, it is important to still find ways to relax and unwind, whether that be through your workout routine, cooking a creative meal after a long day, or vegging out to watch an episode of your favorite show. Giving yourself that time for whatever inspires you can allow you to come back to your desk the next day feeling recharged with a renewed sense of drive and productivity, even if it’s just through scheduling a quick mindfulness exercise on your calendar. 

Strategies for Improving Work-Life Balance

Wondering how to find a better work-life balance? It’s all about figuring out what works best for you. Here are a few tips to strike the right balance between personal time and working hours:

Start by prioritizing the tasks that matter most and set boundaries to protect the time you allocate to those tasks. For many people, the top priority items are typically work, family, and health, so don’t hesitate to set a boundary with your co-workers to protect those times. Set blocks in your calendar for when you will be having dinner with your family or heading to the gym for a workout and most importantly, be present in those moments – turn off your work devices, set aside your work communication, and find ways to practice mindfulness to get the most of your time. 

With busy schedules, it is important to have conversations with your employer if flexible working arrangements need to be made. Maybe you have children that need to be picked up from school at a certain time, or you have a health implication that requires certain working hours, or you just feel you are most productive at certain times of day; whatever the case may be, you should feel comfortable discussing those needs with your manager and employer. By creating arrangements to solve for certain things that may complicate your daily schedule, you can maximize productivity and minimize stress related to not managing these needs. 

As unlimited paid time off has become more popular, results are starting to show that employees with unlimited PTO actually end up taking less vacation days due to the perceived expectations around acceptable amounts of holiday. In fact, 46% of Americans who get PTO (unlimited or designated) say they don’t use all of it.[5] Regardless of what your paid time off benefits are for your current role, it is important to take breaks and use those vacation days to charge your battery. Research shows that taking vacations (especially if they are at least 1 week long) can support heart health, improve sleep, and reduce stress.[5] So, take the time for one or two extended vacation periods each year, your heart and your mind will thank you!  

Lastly, don’t forget to protect your bandwidth. If you are working hard to get promoted or if your team is stretched thin, it can sometimes feel hard to say no to taking on another project, then suddenly, you are working through the evening and starting in the early morning hours to get everything done. Instead, try having conversations about bandwidth during one-on-ones with your manager or try delegating certain tasks to other team members when you need to free up your time. 

See related: Natural Ways to Increase Focus and Concentration

Benefits of Kava for Work-Life Balance

Kava, a plant which has been used for centuries in the South Pacific, can have a great impact on mood and tension, which can be of benefit to people struggling to achieve work-life balance as well. Because kava contains kavalactones, which are known to induce muscle relaxation, minimize feelings of occasional anxiety and stress, as well as reduce tension due to its anesthetic properties,[6] consuming kava after a workday can help you to wind down and relax. Having a kava capsule or tonic in the morning can also be a great way to improve your focus and cognitive performance for a few hours.[6,7] By using kava as part of your pre or post work routine, you could start to see improved work efficiency during work along with reduction of occasional occupational stress and tension, leaving you more mentally and physically available for your non-work responsibilities.

Finding A Better Balance Between Work and Life

In order to maintain your drive and productivity, and avoid employee burnout, it is important to achieve a healthy work-life balance that is right for you. By finding the right harmony between the top priority aspects or your daily life, you can avoid occupational stress and feel more fulfilled in all aspects of your life. If work-life balance is something you struggle to find, try setting blocks in your calendar for personal time, having open conversations with your manager about work flexibility or bandwidth restrictions, turn work communication off during personal and family time, or try an herbal supplement like Botanic Tonics’ feel free kava tonic, which could help enhance your focus and minimize the occasional stress that can come from a busy work day or packed schedule. 

To try improving your work-life balance with kava, take a look at Botanic Tonics.

Sources: 

1. Ya-Yuan Hsu, Chyi-Huey Bai, Chien-Ming Yang, Ya-Chuan Huang, Tzu-Ting Lin, Chih-Hung Lin, "Long Hours’ Effects on Work-Life Balance and Satisfaction", BioMed Research International, vol. 2019, Article ID 5046934, 8 pages, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/5046934
2. Byrne, U. (2005). Work-life balance: Why are we talking about it at all? Business Information Review, 22(1), 53-59. https://doi.org/10.1177/0266382105052268
3. Linkedin HR Operations 2024 You’re in HR Operations. What are some common misconceptions about work-life balance? https://www.linkedin.com/advice/1/youre-hr-operations-what-some-common-misconceptions-h0zac
4. Bryan Lufkin, The smoke and mirrors of unlimited paid time off BBC 2022 https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20220520-the-smoke-and-mirrors-of-unlimited-paid-time-off
5. Very Well Health 2023 This Is How Many Vacation Days You Should Take to Stay Healthy, According to New Research https://www.verywellhealth.com/why-are-vacations-healthy-7504200 
6. Thompson R, Ruch W, Hasenöhrl RU. Enhanced cognitive performance and cheerful mood by standardized extracts of Piper methysticum (Kava-kava). Hum Psychopharmacol. 2004 Jun;19(4):243-50. doi: 10.1002/hup.581. PMID: 15181652
7. S. 'Apo' Aporosa, Hakau Ballard, Rishi Pandey, Mary Jane McCarthy, The impact of traditional kava (Piper methysticum) use on cognition: Implications for driver fitness, Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Volume 291, 2022 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2022.115080