WORK-LIFE BALANCE
WORK-LIFE BALANCE: To maintain an effective work-life balance it is necessary to get the correct mix of factors, which both employers and employees are responsible for.
Working less hours, flexi-time or a reduced workload are not the solution to achieving an effective work-life balance.
Instead you need to take action to define your ideal work-life balance, decide what is most important in your life, and place this in the setting of your current life situation.
Explore your options, examine what hurdles might get in your way, find a way of dealing with them, set realistic goals and create a practical work-life balance strategy.
STRESS MANAGEMENT: Stress can affect everyone - not just the people in the top echealon of business. In fact, you do not even have to be a member of the workforce to feel the effects of stress.
Although an exertion of pressure can be channelled into a stimulating, challenging and beneficial force that propels you forward and upward, if demands increase beyond a point of being able to manage, then stress takes over. It is important, therefore, to recognise the difference between pressure and stress.
Identify your own stress threshold and develop coping strategies to keep pressure at an acceptable level.
How to manage stress
All life changes provide certain levels of stress. Here are eight tips to help combat and manage feelings of anxiety and pressure:
1. Maintain a work/play balance
2. Arrange regular relaxation and pampering sessions
3. Eat healthily, include the 5-a-day ethos in your diet
4. Avoid sugary foods and caffeine drinks
5. Reduce your alcohol and cigarette intake
6. Take regular exercise
7. Talk - a problem shared is a problem halved
8. Get a good nights sleep
Top ten tips...
... to help maintain a work-life balance
1. Be happy with your work
2. Find work flexibility
3. Do not agree to try to do everything
4. Achieve targets by setting reasonable ones
5. Work from home - but do not overdo it
6. Eat healthily
7. Make time for family and friends
8. Make a "10 things to do before I die" list
9. Treat yourself to a spa
10. Take up a hobby