This is a sponsored guest post.
Everyone knows someone that still does work even when they are supposed to be on holiday enjoying themselves. In fact, I can guarantee that many of you are guilty of doing precisely that. Dedication isn’t a bad thing at all, but you have to know when to switch off in order to preserve a healthy work-life balance.
Career-minded workers who have access to their inboxes at home are the worst for it, always keeping tabs on what is going on at the office and answering emails that really could have waited until they are back from annual leave. Employers, of course, won’t stop employees from working in their own time, but maybe they should do more to ensure that their staff does not willingly burn themselves out.
Career vs. Family
For many, it can feel like a constant battle between having a career and a family, falsely believing that you cannot have both. It is an unhealthy way of thinking, believing that you have to effectively put your personal life on pause in order to succeed in your career.
Some jobs are more demanding than others and do not make it easy to make time for friends and family. If your profession sees you regularly working away from home, making time for family is harder – but that just means you have to work a little harder to make it work. When you are presented with time away from work at home, make the most of it rather than being forever connected to your job.
Celebrations
Missing out on celebrations is the number one downside to focusing all of your attention on your work-life. While religious festivals such as Ramadan, Qurbani, Easter and Christmas should be the time for family, these all too often turn into just another day in the year for workaholics.
Personal celebrations like birthdays, anniversaries and other notable occasions are also missed. Anyone with children will understand the heartache of potentially missing your child’s birthday for any reason – or, if you had parents that had to miss a birthday party, the hurt that causes to a child. They don’t understand that mummy and daddy has to work, they don’t get that mummy and daddy have other responsibilities – all they want is their mummy and daddy.
Schedule Family Time
If your life runs according to a schedule, then make sure to schedule family time into your day and/or week. Doing this allows you to block out valuable time for those that matter. Treat this time the same way that you would any client meeting or project by placing the same amount of importance – or more – in order to keep to it.
Equally, something as simple as ensuring you leave the office on time – and leaving work at work – in order to make time for you and your family. While your employers appreciate, and often encourage, you taking work home, they also want you to be firing on all cylinders when you are in the office.
Here’s a little secret – your bosses are people, too, with their own friends and family they want to see. They will understand if you cannot dedicate every evening, day off or forego a family celebration as they would much rather be with their own family if the shoe was on the other foot.
Flexibility
While you will always need an element of flexibility when it comes to your career, there is a difference between working overtime and constantly working. It is also good to remember that favours work both ways, meaning that your employer may be more forgiving in allowing you to work around your family if you demonstrate that you give as much as you take.
