HOW TO GO FROM WORK-LIFE BALANCE TO LIFE-WORK BALANCE

Long working hours, jumping between many different projects, taking work home instead of leaving it at the office, and checking e-mail on weekends - for many of us, life is more and more work and less and less life.

Therefore, it is extremely important to find balance in our lives and draw a clear line between our work and our identity.

Let's change our perspective now.

Stop planning to make time for life and achieve a work-life balance, and instead focus on achieving a life-work balance where work is not the top priority of our daily lives.

Work has a huge impact on our quality of life. It consumes at least ⅓ of our day and determines our survival. According to research, unemployment is one of the rare life events from which a person is unable to fully recover within the next five years.

When everything goes well at work, it has a positive impact on our lives. Thanks to this, we gain a sense of purpose in life, create and cultivate strong relationships with our co-workers, and build strong self-confidence based on the feeling that we are important, valued, and capable of anything.

This type of attitude opens up new opportunities for our career development, improvement, and professional development. Thanks to this, we gain new experiences, broaden our perspectives, and inspire us to do great, brave things and take risks.

This makes us feel that we have enough energy to accomplish everything our heart desires and an extensive to-do list (at work, of course). Once we leave the office, we can disconnect and engage in activities that bring us joy, relaxation, fun, and excitement.

In this way, a harmonious and healthy workplace changes the quality of our lives for the better.

However, on the other hand, if something goes wrong at work, we are overtired, overworked, burnt out, underpaid, and insufficiently appreciated, it also affects our lives.

Our internal motivation to do our job may disappear and we focus only on money. These long eight hours a day may cause us to lose the meaning of the work we do. In turn, when communication between employees and employers is not based on mutual trust and respect, it can make us feel disconnected and unimportant, which in turn seriously damages our self-esteem and our image.

If our workplace does not offer ways to develop our skills and talents and does not encourage us in any way, we can fall into the trap of stagnation and the feeling that we are just trying to survive every day. This has a huge impact on our mental state and development.

It often doesn't end at the end of the day at work, but it stays with us long after we leave the office. This destroys our efforts at the expense of relaxation, relief, and fun.

The question is, is there a solution?

Unlike the examples above, your job is most likely neither perfect nor out-of-this-world terrible. Chances are it's somewhere in the middle, with good and pleasant moments that motivate you to keep going, and difficult and stressful moments that throw you for a loop from time to time.

These challenges probably stress you out, but they also give you strength and wisdom.

Changing your balance, like any other major change, starts with changing your mindset. The world we know is a narrative constructed in our minds. If we have and want to change it, we must start from the source - ourselves.

If you want to start putting life before work, you need to change the way you think about work.

Start by asking: Is this a place where you can spend eight hours of your precious time doing nothing meaningful, or is this a place where you can do work that makes a difference, moves you forward, and gives you a sense of accomplishment?

If you find yourself stuck in a job or career you don't like, complaining and staying in a debilitating environment is not the answer.

You need to change the way you think about the whole situation and commit to changing:

This means that you will approach problems and take responsibility for proactively solving them. If an obstacle arises, you need a growth mindset to overcome it, learn life lessons from it, and become stronger.

The next step is rethinking what is important to you. If you spend too much time on your job, you will lose time for some alone time, taking care of yourself and your family. Moreover, you may also endanger your mental and physical health due to long-term exposure to stress and lack of relaxation.

You need to accept that your time matters just as much as your professional life, if not more. Your family, children, leisure, time spent alone with your thoughts, your health, hobbies, etc. - all these things matter because without them your life would not be complete.

In this case, rethinking your values means achieving a deep acceptance of all that brings you joy, enlightenment, meaning, and inner peace.

Ask yourself: If you continue to live the same way you live now, will you get closer or further from your vision of life and dreams?

The first step towards change is to make an internal decision to change, but this is not enough. For a conscious lifestyle change to take place, specific actions are needed.

You need a clear and personalized strategy that will help you prioritize the actions that will balance and enrich your life.

Business management and leadership are the most important factors in determining whether a workplace increases anxiety or creativity. Depending on how open, warm, understanding, fair, and respectful they are, employees feel more or less motivated to engage in the work process and contribute with their creativity and ideas.

Stress levels at work are also influenced by how management and leadership respond to stressful situations.

In such a role, you will be much more likely to fall into the trap of not putting life before work, but at the same time, you can help other people working in the company avoid or get out of this trap.

This can be done by changing official company policies to benefit employees through training, education, recognition, additional time off, and communication, but also activities that increase pleasure at work.

The way you communicate internally in the company - the level of openness, kindness, and hierarchy - significantly affects the way employees think about work, their boundaries around work, and their overall satisfaction.

By changing the way you think about work, setting clear expectations and roles, and promoting a greater appreciation for your personal life, you can set an amazing example for all your colleagues and encourage them to do the same.

Many of us need constant reminders that we only live once. Each moment happens only once. Therefore, try to repeat every moment that makes you smile. Return to situations that are pleasant and positive for you. Spend time with people who love you and whom you love. When you come back from work, put your phone and laptop away and sit down with your loved ones to talk. Go for a walk together and celebrate the moment.

Because it is these moments that create life and these moments should be the most important, not just another task from the boss.

Work is important, let's not forget, it gives us the ability to function, but what is beyond it allows us to live.

Sometimes half an hour is enough to rediscover the joy and meaning of our lives, allowing ourselves the luxury of setting our priorities and needs. Don't be afraid to take this time for yourself - you must do it.

Become more proactive about making yourself a priority, taking the initiative to regain your balance, and making every effort to make your dream life a reality.