3 signs you have a healthy work-life balance

Today, we’re discussing the importance of having a healthy work-life balance and more importantly – how to achieve it.

Contrary to popular belief, this doesn’t mean splitting your time equally between work and play (sadly). However, it does mean feeling fulfilled across all aspects of your life.

But how do you know if you’re content? In this blog we share three signs that suggest you’ve got a healthy work-life balance; as well as small changes you can make to restore this balance.

1. Work doesn’t trickle into your downtime

Do you constantly find yourself checking emails late at night or replying to clients past work hours? We appreciate that it can be hard to fully ‘switch off’ as a contractor; especially when you’re trying to complete a project to a tight deadline – but working overtime will only slow you down in the long run. To avoid burnout, make sure to close your laptop and work phone when you’re finished for the day. You know what they say; ‘out of sight, out of mind!’.

If, on the other hand, you have no issue letting go after work – whether that’s sweating out the stress in the gym or getting lost in a cracking Netflix series – then congratulations, your work-life balance seems to be in good health!

2. Lunch breaks are never compromised 

Maintaining a healthy diet is essential to staying well – plus, it can really impact your ability to concentrate if you don’t get the right nutrition. That’s why no matter how jam-packed your work schedule is, you should never skip lunch. Not only is working through lunch a terrible idea for your mental health, but also your physical health. This is becasue your brain needs glucose to function – and without food, guess what? Your work performance will fall as fast as your blood sugar…

A good way to ensure you always take your lunchbreak is to block it out in a shared calendar so colleagues and clients know not to disturb you during this time. You could also try prepping your meals for the week in advance so that you have one less thing to worry about when lunchtime rolls around. We’d recommend checking out these BBC Good Food recipes if you’re after some new food-spiration.

3.  You recognise when you’re stressed

Believe it or not, recognising when you’re stressed can be a good sign as it means you’re not used to feeling stressed and can identify and react to it as soon as the feeling arises. How you deal with stress is also a tell tale sign of whether or not you have a healthy work-life balance.

For example, if you take annual leave when you realise you’re close to burning out, then you likely have a good work-life balance. However, those who try and push through until they reach breaking point need to urgently re-evaluate how much they are priotising work over their wellbeing.

It is also healthy to set boundaries with clients as a contractor as to avoid these situations in the first place. You can still do a good job and meet deadlines without compromising your health. We recommend setting expectations early on so there are no nasty surprises later on (e.g. tell clients you will be done with X in Y amount of weeks but give yourself more time than you need so no one is disappointed – if you finish before the deadline then it’s a win-win!).

Mint Umbrella is proud to be an accredited umbrella company. If you have any questions or would like a free pay illustration, contact us via email at [email protected] or call us on 02039676846.