5 Ways To Prioritise Your Mental Health And Achieve Work-Life Balance
Maybe this something you want to prioritize, but you aren’t sure where to begin. Let me offer 5 helpful tips on how to make your mental health a priority.
1) Set boundaries at work
We all know how difficult it can be to set boundaries at work. This can be especially hard if you are early in your career, or even just new to your current job or company. We all want to do a good job, and prove to our peers and supervisors that we are capable and that we excel at our work.
2) If you’re working from home, build your schedule as if you were going to the office
Especially when working from home, it can be tough to take breaks or to unplug. Anyone else found themselves trying to fit lunch in between 1:58 p.m. and the 2 p.m. Zoom meeting?
I think that one of the hardest things about working from home is that it removes all the normal structure that used to make up our days. Whether you were commuting by train, driving, walking to work, stepping out for lunch or having drinks after work with coworkers, the time we used to spend away from our workspaces was incredibly valuable for our productivity.
3) Do a cell phone detox
This is definitely one of the hardest things, but also one the most impactful things you can do to improve your mental health and work-life balance.
4) Prioritize sleep
At the risk of saying something you already know, sleep is so, so important for your overall health and your mental health.
In fact, sleep and mental health are intrinsically linked. Not getting enough sleep—the Centers for Disease Control recommends no less than seven hours of sleep per night for adults—can negatively affect your mood. A study found that sleep deprivation can lead to many adverse mood effects including, anger, irritability, general sadness and mental fatigue.
5) Schedule time for personal and professional development
I think that in order to boost our mental health and self-esteem, and to make sure that we are investing in a healthy work-life balance, we have to invest in ourselves. By making time to devote to personal and professional development outside of work, you ensure that you are giving back to yourself regularly.
A great way to make sure you are prioritizing your professional development is to set a weekly goal for yourself. Start with 15 minutes a day, or maybe make sure that you are getting three to five hours per week in engaging with personal development materials. How you structure it is up to you, as long as you’re making sure to meet your goals.