Here's how to better maintain a work-life balance in 2023
February 2023 – Does your work consume you? Is your family suffering because of your entrepreneurship? Do you fear burnout or depression? This article will give you five helpful tips to maintain your work-life balance.
In 2020, more than 17,000 people suffered long-term burnout. Around 1,000 cases involved self-employed workers. According to a 2019 measurement by the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, over 7 per cent of the working population in Flanders have burnout complaints, and another 9 per cent are in the danger zone.
Disconcerting figures reveal, among other things, that people struggle to find a good work-life balance. Entrepreneurs are particularly at risk because they often ignore problem signals indicating burnout. After all, they want to keep their business.
Below are five tips that can help you keep work and private life better separated. They are modest but effective rules of thumb that will bring balance back into your life.
Work more efficiently, not longer
It is not how much time you spend on an important task but how efficiently you work. Efficiency is the ability to get the most out of a minimum amount of time. Those who work more efficiently get more done, but do not necessarily knock out longer days. Working efficiently has to do with being organised but also with what tools you use to get your work done.
Delegate where you can and get help where needed
As a 'boss', do you find it difficult to ask for help? Remember that even a business manager is only human and therefore does not know everything. Your employees also realise that you do not know everything. So get assistance where necessary and enlist the help and expertise of your employees. After all, that is why you hired them.
Agree on your accessibility
Do you feel irreplaceable in your role? Guess again ... Your employees manage best without you. Don't want to be disturbed in the evening and on weekends? Tell your staff, customers, and suppliers, ... Define your free time clearly and stick to it. Your immediate environment will thank you.
Automate time-intensive tasks
Technology also helps maintain work-life balance. Time-intensive and repetitive tasks - think administration or certain business processes - can be safely left to a computer. This leaves you more time for yourself, your family and/or your hobbies.
Respect your sleep
Those who want to perform during the day need to sleep well at night. Not everyone needs eight hours of sleep a night, but if they do, you better stick to it. Listen to your body and turn over again.
