It sounds counterintuitive, but taking time away from your home business can actually help it.
You may no longer have access to a corporate gym, and the coronavirus may be keeping you from your usual community sporting events, but you still need your exercise. And you no longer have that half-hour commute to listen to audiobooks or those break-room chit-chats, but you still need alone time as well as a social outlet.
We’ll discuss the benefits of a healthy work-life balance, what’s recommended, and how to go about doing it.
To get you motivated, this article will give an overview of what can happen to you and your business if you focus too much on your work and not enough on your mental and physical health, including having to pay more for life insurance for overweight individuals.
How Working Too Hard Takes Its Toll
The United States is the world’s most overworked nation, as far as the number of hours worked compared to workers in other countries.
And despite the reduced hours, furloughs, and layoffs of this past year, the coronavirus pandemic has only made the situation worse. According to a National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) study, our workday has increased by 48.5 minutes on average.
There are many reasons behind why Americans work more than those in similarly wealthy countries, from cultural to policy to economic.
There are even more reasons why having a home business may make you feel you have to work more. You’re essentially responsible for everything, including finding reliable materials and suppliers, managing income and costs, and building and maintaining a customer base.
It can easily become overwhelming, but working more hours at the expense of other aspects of your life isn’t the answer. Working longer does not translate to working smarter, but it can translate to burnout.
The Signs of Work Burnout
Burnout can take many forms in three main stages. Be aware of the signs. The earlier you spot them, the less they have a negative impact on you and your business.
Initial symptoms can include irritability, anxiousness, forgetfulness, insomnia, headaches, high blood pressure, and gastrointestinal issues.
If the stress continues, your body tries to counteract it by conserving energy, translating to low energy. Everything becomes more taxing, increasing your forgetfulness and your ability to focus. You may find yourself losing interest in your business, withdrawing from family and friends, and growing, cynical, resentful, and apathetic.
You may also find yourself reaching for quick energy fixes or mood pick-me-ups, such as nicotine, caffeine, alcohol, or medications.
The rock-bottom stage of work burnout is sadness or depression, stomach or bowel problems, mental and physical fatigue, chronic headaches or migraines, difficulty reading or understanding communications, and an almost total inability to focus.
This state could cause you to avoid family, friends, and social situations, drop out of society, and abandon your business.
The Effects of Work Burnout
Obviously, you don’t want to get to that point. But it doesn’t take long for those initial symptoms to start; in fact, after six hours of working straight without a break, your productivity diminishes. It’s the same with working over 50 hours per week.
Overwork can make it more difficult for you to perform in ways critical to a successful home business, such as communicating effectively, making judgment calls, and managing your own emotional reactions.
Who wants to do business with someone who’s unpleasant and forgetful and whose work is full of mistakes? Your networking for your home business could be badly damaged.
The effects of work burnout could also cost you time away from your business by seeking help for physical and mental problems. And resources you wished to use to build your home business may have to instead be used to pay for medical bills as well as increased health insurance and life insurance premiums due to medical conditions.
Good Work-Life Balance Habits
The last thing you or your home business needs is an energy drain. Here are a few tips to help you avoid burnout.
Listen To Your Body
As you’ve seen from the symptoms of burnout, if you don’t respond to your body, it’ll initiate its own responses.
So when you’re hungry, eat a well-balanced meal or a healthy snack. When you’re tired, take a rest.
Also be mindful of computer vision syndrome. Staring at a computer screen for too long can give you eye strain, resulting in blurred vision, eye pain, and even long-term vision problems like nearsightedness.
Follow the 20-20-20 rule: Look away from your screen every 20 minutes and focus on something at least 20 feet away for 20 seconds.
This advice sounds so simple, but when you’re working yourself too hard it’s so easily ignored. Think of benefiting your body as benefiting your home business.
Step Away From Your Work Space
You may feel like you’re wasting time if you’re not focusing on something related to work, but the opposite is often true. When you let your brain relax, you refuel your attention and focus. When you’re not distracted, that’s when meaningful ideas come to you.
So reframe downtime as recharge time.
Get Regular Exercise
Who can resist something that does all of the following at the same time: lower stress, heighten creativity, inspire goals, reduce weight, maintain strong muscles and bones, reduce risk of chronic diseases, reduce pain, help skin stay healthy, and get a better night’s sleep?
No, it’s not a miracle pill. It’s three to five workouts a week, totaling 150 minutes. That breaks down to three 50-minute sessions or five 30-minute sessions. You can break it down more to suit what works best for you. Make the time at least 20 minutes so you can have an elevated pulse long enough to ensure great results.
In addition to dedicating time to exercise, dedicate a location. If you want to set up a home gym, the basic equipment recommended is a mat, resistance bands, dumbbells, a jump rope, a pull-up bar, a kettlebell, and a workout bench.
Vary your types of activity so you don’t grow bored or just focus on one body part.
That enhanced stamina and confidence will give you the tools to lead you to home business success.
Spend Time in the Great Outdoors
It’s perfectly fine to work on your work-life balance indoors, but don’t forget to take advantage of outdoor time for both your mental and physical health.
There was a fear of being outdoors early in the pandemic, but research has shown that transmission is higher indoors than outdoors. Simple precautions such as keeping your distance and wearing a mask around others can keep you safe outside.
A few breaths of fresh air and looking at the colors in nature promotes the production of serotonin, which causes you to feel happier and less anxious. You’ll give yourself a free dose of fresh perspective, thanks to a clearer, sharper, and calmer mind.
And just 10 minutes a day out in the sun can get you your vitamin D requirement, which can be challenging to acquire given the low number of vitamin D-rich foods (fish and fortified milk, breakfast cereals, and orange juice), the low percentage of vitamin D in those foods, and the number of people who suffer from Crohn’s disease or celiac disease.
The “sunshine” vitamin is not only important for strong bones and muscles, but it also regulates blood pressure, reduces inflammation, and aids your immune system, which may help you fight COVID-19.
How to Establish Good Work-Life Balance Habits
That all sounds wonderful, you may be saying to yourself. But how do you get started?
The key is to shift your habits and perspective.
Tap into your brain’s cycle of cue, routine, and reward to create new habits. Since cravings drive habits, find a craving you’re currently looking to satisfy, then create a routine to deliver the reward. And be sure to reward yourself.
Track your bad habits and figure out what kind of reward you want to give yourself for changing to a good habit. And don’t get overwhelmed with this: Only track and change one habit at a time.
Start with something small, as small wins help you build momentum. As your confidence grows, you can tackle bigger habits.
Building good habits will help you when you’re stressed.
Many CEOs and business owners have found that establishing a morning routine jumpstarts their day.
Five of the most popular habits they use to start the day are meditating for a sense of calm, exercising for a surge of energy, journaling for a clean slate, breakfasting to regulate metabolism, and reading to activate your mind.
We hope we’ve shown you how taking care of yourself is integral in taking care of business.
