In corporate lives, home is where we come back when the day’s work is done. Yet, in most jobs, irrespective of the position in the hierarchy, we always find less time to spend inside our home and with family.
In most instances, we become aliens in our own homes; we start lacking interest in our parents, spouse, children, and friends’ lives. Sometimes, we choose to dump all our work-related frustration on them unknowingly. Later, everything adds up, and our entire lives become a toxic mess.
In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began to spread worldwide, most of us started to deliver our best by working from home.
At first, most of us thought we could spend more time with family as we would at least save the time for the journey to the office. But without hesitation, we can clearly say we were wrong.
The workload increased for most of us, and we spent more time in front of the screen than we used to spend in our office. So instead of finding a better work-life balance, we worsened what we had earlier.
So, what can we do to improve our personal life to achieve our desired professional success?
Schedule Your Work-from-Home Times.
It has been said several times, and maybe you are following a work-from-home schedule. You are booting up your laptop at 9 o’clock, but can you shut it down at 5? Most days, you keep working till late at night. Then the apparent phone calls, video calls, and online conferences. Try to be a little bit agile with your boss and colleagues, tell them you will not be available after 6 or 7 o’clock.
Turn off your phone or get a new number to avoid work calls. At first, your colleagues, bosses, or clients could find this odd or think you are trying to avoid work. But you have the very next day to reason with them. Then, after 6 or 7 in the evening, dedicate all the time in the world to your family.
Try helping your mother or wife with cooking, help your kids with their homework, try to have a conversation with your father, meet up with some old friends and catch up on their stories. Do everything but don’t check your emails after 7 in the evening.
Also Read: 7 Tips To Maintain a Work-life Balance in the 21st Century.
You will see a slew of increased productivity at your work because you will know that there will be a great time waiting for you every day after work.
Spending quality time with friends and family drastically reduces stress and protects you from burnout too.
Open Up To Your Family and Let Them Open Up To You too.
“Not Opening Up” is the most common reason for friction among family members, colleagues, and almost everyone else. You have been home and working for the past two years but never said a thank you to your family for bearing your workloads with you.
Maybe you didn’t know that your spouse took hours to bake the birthday cake for you, and you didn’t even say a ‘Thank you. Try to open up by thanking them, or do it if you need to apologize. That won’t make you a lesser person.
Opening up and letting others open up to you will help you see a bigger picture of your relationships’ meaning. It will reduce the stress hormones and increase the mood-boosting hormones.
It will make you feel more energetic as your family relationships improve. Remember that relationships take a long time to build, less time to fix, and little time to break. If you are still working from home, you will feel more relaxed, and your work environment will become more vibrant than ever.
Maybe, by staying way too detached from your children, you have created a negative image of yourself in their minds. Spend some time with them, let them open up to you, you will find yourself becoming a better parent.
By opening up, you will find more work-life balance as you can clearly tell your family how long you will be busy at work, and they will have a better understanding of your schedule and workload. Furthermore, you will always get the necessary mental support to deal with all the problems in your life, especially at work.
Also Read: How do Building Personal Relationships help In Professional Growth?
Sometimes, opening up to your parents and other family members can give you unprecedented or ‘out of the box solutions for your problems at work. This is just another way; your family can support your professional growth.
Show Up with An Apology.
Sometimes, when you are too busy with your work and don’t know what’s happening inside your family or what’s going on with them or miss crucial times when they need you the most.
Chances are you haven’t visited your parents in your hometown for years; maybe your friends are angry with you because you missed their birthdays or even marriages due to work. Perhaps your girlfriend or boyfriend broke up with you. Maybe you missed your sister’s engagement or brother’s marriage ceremony, all due to work.
Then it is the best time for you to go to them, talk to them and apologize. They are your family, your friends, your loved ones; they never take a pause to forgive.
Many times doing such things will help find the missing inspiration to achieve your goals in your professional life.
Maybe your long-lost friend has a new business idea or a better job opening that fits your profile. Maybe your brother or sister could help you with the projects you are currently stuck in.
Sometimes, opportunity awaits at our doorstep, inside our own family and friends, and all it takes for us, just to show up.
Also Read: How To Keep Personal & Professional Life Apart
Closing Notes:
The working class of the United States, the European Union, even India, and China are tendering their resignations to find a better work-life balance. For the first time in decades, the USA has more job openings than the available human resource as the people don’t want to work in a toxic work culture only to maintain a healthy life and relationship.
But quitting is not always a solution; the people of the USA can quit because the government is still printing money and giving stimulus cheques to the unemployed, but that’s not the case for the EU, India or China, or most other places.
Therefore, you can give the goals a try, one or all of them, and give it some time to fix what’s broken in your personal life. Remember, the key to your professional success is hidden inside your personal life.
