- Guest Contributor
- July 12, 2022
Your hustle can offer freedom from the 9 to 5, but it shouldn’t be a 24/7 endeavor. You need to focus on maintaining an excellent work-life balance to truly achieve success. Otherwise, you’re just zooming toward burnout, which can bring your side gig dreams to a sudden halt. Want to learn more about why a work-life balance is so important? Here’s what you need to know.
Work Should Power Your Life Off the Job
As the old saying goes, “Live to work, not work to live,” and it couldn’t be more true today. Although your career success is important, your number one goal in working should be funding the finer things in life.
If all you do is work – and never take a moment to enjoy the spoils – it can get old quite fast. You may then struggle to feel fulfilled in any way during your working hours and beyond.
So, be sure to make room for your hobbies, like driving RC cars, hiking with your dogs, or just playing video games. Plus, make it a priority to spend quality time with friends and family whenever you have a chance to get together.
Regular Breaks Recharge Your Batteries
Career stress is on the rise with no end in sight – and the resulting burnout is setting in at the ripe old age of 32. All the stress comes from working longer hours than ever before, often seven days a week for months at a time. If that sounds all too familiar, then you’re likely cruising for a bad case of burnout as well.
Thankfully, all you have to do to recover is take a little bit of time off. You need to make your self-care a priority on a regular basis by scheduling time off here and there.
Depending on your career focus, you might just want to schedule regular days off each week. Or you can work as much as possible through the busy times, and then take a week or more off when things slow down.
Downtime Will Accelerate Your Career Success
When you work too hard, too often, you’re essentially burning the candle at both ends. Then, before you know it, you’ll have little to no energy for your tasks plus find your creativity completely sapped. Your productivity will likely plummet as a result, making it difficult to achieve your career goals.
Fortunately, you can easily recover with just a bit of downtime. A day off is ideal, of course, but it doesn’t even need to be that long. Build short breaks into your day for a walk in the fresh air, phone call with a friend, or even a quick nap. Your work performance will improve dramatically as a result, making it easier to find time for more breaks in the future.
Achieve true work-life balance and you’ll feel like you hit the jackpot. Although it might sound like a tall order, just start small. Then, build on your successes until you feel like you’ve achieved the perfect balance.
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About the Author: Marie Abendroth is a skilled content strategist and SEO copywriter who has been a proud part of the gig economy for over 10 years. In her articles, she aims to provide up-to-date info that can help everyone achieve their goals as an independent worker. You can find her on WritersAccess.