Millions of people struggle to have an excellent work-life balance in an age when everyone is trying to make time for so many different things during the day, especially for those with a demanding profession like Dr. James Murtagh. Getting caught up in chasing money and keeping up with expenses is easy, but more work is needed to burn anyone out.
Why should people have a better work-life balance? Studies have shown that making time for hobbies and passions can help with performance at work. Spending more time with family balances life and allows people to be at their best.
Putting Priorities in Order
Everyone has their own set of goals looking into the future. Some prioritize moving up in a career over anything else in life. While having career goals is always important, being too invested in work can lead to an incredible amount of stress and a lack of time to handle it.
Even if a person is working in a field, they are very passionate about; life shouldn’t always be about work. Getting a chance to reset the mind and do other things can allow for a different level of relaxation. The constant pursuit of working and being on the clock, even for the hungriest young workers, adds up in a hurry.
The business world gets a bad reputation for not having the best priorities for a proper work-life balance. For example, someone working on Wall Street or selling anything might work 80 or even 100 hours during the week to try to be better than the competition. While having a solid work ethic is excellent, this lifestyle can only last so long before it negatively affects production.
Medical professionals also start down this path as early as medical school. Whether studying for a big test or trying to juggle residency with everything else, there’s not much time for sleep and relaxation. Dr. James Murtagh has experienced some long days, but he’s been at his best when he creates time for other pursuits.
Helping Employees Find Life Away From Work
Not only is it essential for business owners to have a work-life balance, but the same goes for any worker. It’s easy for people to fall into the habit of working too much at a job, regardless of pay. Sometimes this is done out of necessity, but it can quickly lead to burnout.
A business owner pushing employees too far can have that backfire tremendously. Even in the best-case scenario, employees might quit unexpectedly because they can’t handle the pressure and stress of long hours. It could lead to severe adverse effects on businesses along the way.
It’s becoming more popular for business owners to have opportunities away from work to give back to the community during a charity day or even have a fun day away from it all.
Labeling it “team bonding” is something to look forward to away from the office. While not working these days won’t prevent burnout by itself, it’s a good start to improve it for employees.
Breaking Potentially Dangerous Work Habits
The United States is particularly very focused on long, hard work hours as a way to get ahead. For example, someone working 80 hours a week is thought of as grinding and outworking the next person.
While someone in a high-paying field working 80 hours a week will likely make a good amount of money, there comes a point when there’s no way to spend it because work consumes life.
Turning the number of work hours into a competition eventually reaches a point where most people can’t keep up with everyone else. There are always exceptions to the rules, but burnout is real.
How can the cycle of work, work, and more work end? It starts with setting aside some time to do something different. That could be working out, joining a club, grabbing food with family or friends, or anything that doesn’t involve any aspect of work.
In other parts of the world, countries encourage employees to take some time away from work. More days off and shorter work days still allow people to complete their tasks. They’ve found productivity increases when workers aren’t constantly stressing about what to do next.
Handling Financial Struggles While Still Having Work-Life Balance
In an ideal world, most people would like to work less and have more time for other parts of life. However, financial struggles are becoming more and more common thanks to a variety of factors. Even people working full-time jobs struggle to pay bills and gain any type of real financial stability.
It’s hard to tell these people to work less, as it might mean missing necessary payments or not being able to buy anything other than essentials. It requires more creativity, but work-life balance should still be part of a focus to avoid building up so much stress.
Looking for ways to manage time and work around a particular schedule helps. Simply reaching out to an employer and talking about concerns about a poor work-life balance could also open up a little more downtime that will help them in the long run.
How Dr. James Murtagh Keeps a Work-Life Balance
Working in medicine and doing plenty of research takes up a ton of time for Dr. James Murtagh. Outside work, Dr. James Murtagh is passionate about writing on lighter topics. For example, he’s posted several movie reviews online and opinion pieces on various topics.
Writing about different topics he enjoys comes easily to Dr. James Murtagh. It also gives him time to relax, as he watches movies first and figures out which direction to go in when writing.
Medical writing is much more technical than movie reviews, but it’s part of what makes the research aspect of medicine fun for Dr. James Murtagh. Many doctors hate having to write, but Dr. James Murtagh likes stepping out of the medical office to switch up his workflow.
Can The Average Person Improve Their Work-Life Balance?
It doesn’t take a lot of time and effort to make changes with a better work-life balance. That said, committing to the changes is a little more challenging. It’s all about redeveloping a routine and sticking with a revised schedule.
Start by dedicating a set amount of time at the beginning or end of the day to break out of the routine. Making drastic changes will make it harder to stick to it daily. Even a tiny break of 30 minutes or one hour will change a person’s mood and productivity.
