Tuesday, August 18, 2015

How to Start Fitting Work Into Life (and Stop Fitting Life Into Work)

Finding work-life balance can be challenging, especially for entrepreneurs. Sometimes, we fall prey to the illusion that personal time is another name for time we can put to better use by working. We might even feel that we'd be more productive if we could only forgo rest to work more. But our bodies will likely overrule us on that one.

And that's a good thing because the truth is, we can’t do our best work if we stay plugged in 24/7. To cite an age-old example, Isaac Newton spent plenty of time working, but he didn’t truly understand gravity until he rested under an apple tree.

What's more, there are benefits to spending time on things other than work and sleep. We don’t just take downtime to distract ourselves from responsibility: Time away from work actually makes us work harder and smarter during the hours we dedicate to working.

Work hard; play hard.

Technology has fundamentally changed the workplace: it's actually difficult to get away from work what with cell phones in our pockets and laptops on our coffee tables. However, to get the full benefits of recharging ourselves (not our devices) during our time off, we have to make sure that that time off truly is "off."

We accomplish this by being fully present in everything we do. That means no cursory glances at email under the table and no quick texts to employees when no one’s watching. Blocking off time for leisure makes this easier.

If I want to eat dinner with family, grab a drink with friends, exercise or read a book, I schedule some uninterrupted time to focus on that activity. Setting parameters helps me eliminate the guilt of not working while getting the most from my personal time.

This is more than just what you “should” do. It’s a complete priority shift. While shifting mindsets sounds like a daunting task, we can make the transition easier on ourselves by following a few simple steps: Read more on Fox News

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