Ways to Improve Work-Life Integration

These days, many of us are working remotely. As a result, it can be more challenging to make a clear distinction between your working hours and the time you set aside for your personal life. The impact of spending too much time working includes: 

• Lost time with loved one and potentially harming important relationships;
• Compromising the quality of your health as too much stress can put you at greater risk for medical conditions or worsening existing ones; 
• Greater difficulty concentrating and making quality decisions when you’re fatigued. Exhaustion or burnout can lead to an increase in emotional reactivity and a lack of resilience. 

When your office is at home, it is easy to just do a little more work and justify your decision because you don’t have a commute and you are saving time in your day by not having to get ‘ready’ for work.

While there are benefits to working from home — especially from a time-saving perspective — that time can be eaten up quickly by working longer hours than you normally would if you were actually back in the workplace. 

Work-life balance or integration means different things to different people. A big part of this process involves deciding on an approach that best suits the needs of your lifestyle.

Consider these tips when looking to improve your work-life integration. 

Be Realistic

Creating better balance or work-life integration is important to help you succeed, manage stress, and maintain a better sense of emotional and physical well-being. This process involves working toward establishing a realistic schedule. 

There will be days when you might need to work longer hours and other days when you create and have the energy to spend more time with loved ones. Balance is accomplished over time and not necessarily each day. It is more about integrating flexibility in your week and creating a schedule that works for you and your loved ones.

Implement Time Management Strategies

Practice good time management habits daily to help you establish a realistic schedule. 

Specifically consider the following techniques:

• Recognize your peaks and troughs. This means performing your most complex or challenging tasks when you have the most energy and ability to concentrate. Block off time in your calendar so that you’re not interrupted by meetings or emails during this peak performance time. 
• Keep your smartphone out of sight and put it on ‘airplane mode’ during times of high concentration or when working on complex tasks.
• Review your to-do list and cut out what isn’t yours to own or is a low value task. Delegate what you can to prioritize your time most effectively and meet deadlines consistently.
• Consider the Eisenhower Time Management Matrix which allows you to prioritize your work based on what is: 
  • Urgent and important
  • Important, but not urgent
  • Urgent, but not important
  • Neither urgent nor important

Establish and Communicate Your Set Work Hours

It is important to establish set work hours and honour time consistently. Be sure to have confirmed and cleared your work hours with your employer as well as with your loved ones. Put a “DO NOT DISTURB” sign on your door or the back of your laptop or desk during your peak performance or times needs for a high degree of concentration.

Add In Personal Time

When you’re setting up your schedule for the week ahead, be sure to plot in blocks of time for your health as well as time for your loved ones.

This includes blocking off time for such activities as:

• Healthy eating and meal preparation;
• Exercise: ideally 30-minutes, 3 times per week;
• Mindfulness or Meditation – even a minute a day and support stress reduction;
• Family time such as birthday celebrations, holidays, games night, date nights, and time to review your personal finances;
• Time to work with a professional coach to help you with these goals and act as an accountability partner.

The quest for work-life balance has been around for many years. Recently, it has gotten more pronounced as a concern for many working Canadians. It is important to set realistic goals and know that setbacks will happen. Once you’ve set your weekly schedule, take a few minutes at the end of each week for some self reflection and analyze what worked well, what didn’t and what you’ll focus on improving.

Set Healthy Boundaries Exercise

Try the free Setting Health Boundaries Exercise. Email us and we’ll send you the exercise right away. This exercise will help you connect your core values — those beliefs that are most important to you — to what the benefits are for making change in your current approach to work and life.

We know this is a complex topic that needs time and consideration. We’re here to help and invite you to contact us for additional free resources and access to the Setting Healthy Boundaries Exercise.