Look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself how you are today. Pay attention to your current state. Do you feel fulfilled or are you overwhelmed? As a staffing expert, you might already be doing too much for your clients and your team.
Finding the right balance between work and life leads to improving your overall well-being. Here are some things you need to know.
You Need to Identify What Stresses You
Have you ever thought about what could be disrupting your work-life balance now? They may be the things in your routine that you have adapted to over the last few years. Here are a few of them that you may recognize:
The Pandemic Over-Flexibility
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, your work lives have shifted drastically. People started working from home and flexible schedules were formed.
Sure, these setups made employees more productive, but they also led people to believe the fallacy that work is our life. It decreased our opportunities to socialize due to how ready we were to work. For the staffing industry that was already juggling multiple tasks and interviews, it widened the possibility of working over the weekends.
Too much flexibility may have harmed the balance that people thought they already had. Try observing your surroundings and see if the pandemic has affected you this way.
Too Much Exposure to Technology
Today’s technology has blurred the divide between work and personal life. With mobile versions of work applications popping up here and there, you’ve started to unconsciously make yourself more available to the company.
You start replying to simple questions about your projects in the middle of the night. You pick up your phone to check on something you forgot to do before your shift ended. Too much exposure to work technology is starting to erase that zone in your life that was meant for your comfort and leisure.¹
Work-Life Balance Habits to Practice
If you’re looking to steer your life back on the track you want, here are some habits you can practice to manage your work-life balance. You may be too busy placing people in their dream jobs as a recruiter, but it is possible for you to achieve a good work-life balance.
1. Understand what balance means to you.
Understand what you need to adjust when it comes to work-life balance. Are you lacking time for work or are you lacking time for yourself?
It could be that you’re being hard on yourself by working too much, or that you’re pampering yourself too much by always being distracted or unfocused. Ask yourself which of the two describes you the best, and start setting boundaries.
2. Set time boundaries and stick to them.
Setting boundaries may look different for everyone. If you work too much and can’t avoid picking up calls in the middle of the night or replying to messages over the weekend, set boundaries that you can follow. For example, pick up calls only until 9 p.m. and reply to messages only on Saturdays and never on Sundays.
Make sure that your colleagues know about this and encourage them to do the same. This can help manage your expectations from each other. It also helps you to work meaningfully and not waste any time together as you work in person or online.
If you love socializing and can’t help it, try working at a café with a friend who works just like you. Chat together in the middle of working and you may even become more productive.
3. Pause your access to technology.
Turn off your phone and social media when working. This can help you focus on your tasks at hand. If you have other communication tools at work, such as Microsoft Teams, use that.
This can help you manage your attention span—because we all have shortening ones—and can keep you from unintentionally scrolling through your social feeds or playing a random game on your phone.
You can turn your phone on during breaks and right after work. This way, you reconnect right away with your loved ones, and with peers who are located somewhere else.²
4. Start and maintain a journal.
Journals can be your effective companion both during work hours and personal time. Journaling is always helpful in maintaining order and balance, no matter how creative or minimalist you are. You can write a list, or paragraphs, and even illustrate your tasks and how you feel.
On a daily basis, list down three top priorities. These are the tasks that you must absolutely accomplish. Those at the bottom of your list can be continued tomorrow or on another day.
For your personal journal, try creative mood trackers. You can use different-colored highlighters or unique symbols to track your moods. For your habits, you can set goals. How many books would you like to read in a year? How many illustrations would you like to make? Write them all down in your handy journal.
5. Set recruitment work targets.
As a recruiter, set your targets for the day when you start hiring people. Ask yourself how many people you want to have initial interviews with for that particular day. How many resumes or portfolios should you collect? Setting targets not only helps you be more productive but also sets your expectations.
Make sure that your targets are manageable and not unrealistic. Allow yourself the space to breathe between interviews and job offers.
Also, remember to set schedules. For example, you can do your administrative work on Tuesdays, your initial interviews on Mondays and Wednesdays, and job offers on Thursdays and Fridays. It’s up to you how you manage things as long as you can breathe smoothly in between.
6. Schedule time for leisure that you can get excited about.
You should be excited about your free time, especially if that time is rare. Schedule your time for leisure even if that day is just once a month. To make it more fulfilling, track your leisure activities.
If you love movies, list down the upcoming movies you would like to watch over the year. Set a goal of, let’s say, 15 movies. Start crossing out movies from your list that you were able to watch. You can do the same for books, TV series, and concerts.
7. Remember to take care of your body as well as your mind.
In the morning, have a routine. It’s up to you whether you want to cook a healthy breakfast or jog with a loved one or a pet. Drink a lot of water or fruit juices to cleanse your digestive system. What matters is that you start your day with a purpose.
At night, make sure you sleep on time. Don’t scroll too far on your social pages. Read a book until you feel like you need to turn the lights off already. Make every moment count in achieving work-life wellness.³
Your To-do List: Care for Your Balance
A well-balanced life will give you more gratitude for being alive. Work-life balance is important for you to maintain your physical, mental, and social well-being. It will help you prevent burnout and lessen your stress. Improve your happiness by maintaining that balance between your work and personal life to give time to nurture your passions and relationships.
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References
1 “Work/Life Balance.” LinkedIn, 1 Oct. 2022, www.linkedin.com/pulse/worklife-balance-bluestonestaffing/?trk=organization_guest_main-feed-card_feed-article-content.
2 Patel, Sujan. “Adopt These 12 Habits for a Better Work-Life Balance.” Entrepreneur, 29 Jun. 2015, www.entrepreneur.com/leadership/adopt-these-12-habits-for-a-better-work-life-balance/247563.
3 “Eight Habits To Rely On For Maintaining Better Work-Life Balance.” Forbes, 16 Oct. 2020, www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2020/10/16/eight-habits-to-rely-on-for-maintaining-better-work-life-balance/?sh=7e8b0ae23573.
