“We don’t realize that the more we work, the higher the chances of us running out of creative ideas and burning out.” – Sid Bharath, VP of Growth for Thinkific.
Long work hours lead to distressed personal lives. By learning to effectively manage your time, you can enhance your productivity and ultimately avoid health risks that are caused by stress. Here are some key time management tips to help you balance your work life and your personal life.
Stick to a Sleep Schedule
As stated by Andrew Wilkinson, the founder of MetaLab, “You don’t have to make yourself miserable to be successful.” Not getting adequate sleep can trigger several physical and mental medical conditions. For most people, 8 hours of sleep is sufficient; however, this figure may not be applicable to everyone. Pay attention to your sleeping habits and determine how many hours of sleep is sufficient for you. Our productivity is correlated to the speed of our thinking. Without enough rest, our thinking slows down, which negatively affects our effectiveness.
Here is a challenge for you: when it is time for bed, stay away from the phones and other digital devices. These devices influence how fast you fall asleep, eventually leading to disturbed sleep patterns. You deserve quality sleep; don’t allow work to keep you from it.
Prioritize Your Work
Complete the most important tasks first by pointing out the top three tasks that are top priorities. When you start your day, identify the top three or four tasks that are high in priority. Spend the first half of your day (or more) in trying to complete them. In some cases, the task may be prolonged for a few days; in this case, set milestones to hit every day.
Prioritizing your work allows you to spend the rest of your day working on less important activities. Never forget the golden rule: Each workday should be spent doing something important – this allows you to achieve a healthy work-life balance.
Concentrate Entirely on the Task at Hand
Trying to knock out a long to-do list can be intimidating. It makes us feel that in order to catch up, we have to multitask to get things moving along when truth it, having a disrupted attention span will often lead to missed deadlines. Sounds familiar?
Start paying attention to the task that is in front of you. This allows you to work more effectively and will save you time in the long run.
Take Care of You
Author Steve Maraboli said it best: “The most powerful relationship you will ever have is the relationship with yourself.” Practice the habit of spending at least at least two hours doing things that you enjoy. Avoid spending extra hours working, unless it is mandatory. Stop allowing your work to swallow your evenings – it’s robbing you of the time that you could be spending with yourself and your family. Eventually, you may get burned out and will play an adverse effect to your productivity. Try turning off your electronic devices to eliminate your distractions.
If you have to decline a request in order to attend to what’s truly important and urgent, do not hesitate to do so. Be prepared to move on to more productive tasks. Learn from the experience to avoid wasting time later on.
It’s OK to say NO!
We all have said “yes” sometimes when we would rather say “no”. Obligation, especially to things that have little purpose in your life, floods your schedule with appointments, commitments, and appointments. It can be extremely overwhelming and will drain your energy. If you are feeling overwhelmed and exhausted, take a look at your commitment and your to-do list. Work on eliminating some of those obligations!
Here is another challenge: learn to say “no” if that is what you truly desire. You deserve to enjoy more of your personal time and trust me, you will enjoy the pleasure of being able to say “no”.
Everyone gets the same 24 hours; the difference is that some people are more efficient than others with their personal time. With the correct time-management tips, you can find ways to be even more productive while enjoying more of your own personal time. In addition to mastering a healthy work-life balance, The Buddy Effect can also help you knock out your important tasks so that you can spend time with your loved ones. From keeping your emails organized to booking trips for you and your family, we keep your life organized and simplified. Personal assistants aren’t just for entrepreneurs and managers – we can help enhance everyone’s lives!