Work-life balance.

 

I wrote a social media post on Monday about how to 'walk to work' if you work from home.

Basically, when people work in an office or shop, or building site, whatever it is, if it's not your home office, then you have the time it takes to leave the house and get to work to clear your mind of all things home-life and get your head into work-mode. It's a great way to transition from one to the other.

But what if you work from home? 

Here's what I do, I walk the dogs first thing every morning. Dogs love routine and so do I, it means there is order and generally nothing gets forgotten. I get home, feed them, say goodbye to my husband, who does his own proper commute and then I hit my working day. Mostly I start on his exit, but sometimes if I haven't scheduled any social media for that morning I do it as soon as the dogs are fed whilst he is still here.

It's not the perfect transition, but there is another element, I am a Capricorn and we are known to be more worky than not! We love working and love to be the best at it, and to be honest this was my downfall before I met Ryan. You see, I lived on my own, and had nothing else really in my little life except work on a daily basis. So I would sit for hours at my desk, blogging, doing social media posts and offers, planning workout routines, literally working every day from 7am until late into the night.

I DID NOT achieve a good work-life balance then, but to be honest I didn't want to because I didn't know anything else, work was the hug I needed every day.

I'm still not great at ditching my work in favour of having a life, but it's certainly a lot easier to achieve now that I have Ryan in my life. I do spend any spare moments researching things, reading, watching videos and learning so that I can be better at my job, but that's just me. When I'm out and about I'm watching how people run, seeing if they run in the best way so as to not get injured, or to make them more streamlined, saving energy. I look at the shapes of people, I look at those who blatantly look like they don't have a decent nutrition and exercise plan and I feel like I want to help them, to motivate them into getting a healthy life. But you can't help everyone can you?

I am always thinking of ways to be a better person myself in terms of health and wellness, and also how I can project that forward to others. So maybe, my work is actually my lifestyle? Could that be a thing? I don't work myself into the ground now, I relax in the evenings, watch a bit of tv like others do, I have hobbies, yes of course they are mostly fitness hobbies, but there are times when I allow myself to play music and knit! I am so rock n roll! 

Do you achieve a good work-life balance?

Is work more important to you? Or is your home-life pivotal?

Do you make time to transition from home, to home-office? Even just leaving the house, walking round the block and back in would do it, and don't forget to dress the part. A uniform makes you something, it determines where your head is at. Don't wallow about in your home office in your pyjamas, put on some functional smart clothes, brush your hair, get prepared for work as if you were having to face others. It will change your thinking, put you in a better head space for work. 

These are only small changes, but you should find that they change the way you work, make you more productive, and make you more content in the same space when you aren't at work.