There never seems to be enough time for everything you need to do. Your days at work are filled with meetings, deadlines and a towering to-do list. Work gets brought home after hours, during the weekend and the thought of a 9-to-5 job seems laughable and work-life balance feels like a myth. But it’s incredibly vital to strike a balance – somehow – for your health, wellness and happiness.
By the numbers
According to a recent study:
- 33 percent of employed adults admit they will work some on the weekends and holidays.
- 66 percent of full-time employees say they don’t believe they have a good work-life balance.
- 50 percent of employees said work causes them to have less time with family and friends.
- 60 percent of those employed full-time felt poor morale at work.
- Working more than 55 hours per week raises your risk of heart disease and stroke and increases your risk of depression and anxiety compared to working a 35-40 hours work week.
As you can see, you’re compromising time with family, your health, happiness, productivity and contentment with your current job by working too much and not having enough leisure time.
What you can do
- Set limitations for your phone. Perhaps you’ll only let yourself check your phone for one hour past the end of your workday. On weekends, keep it switched off. Even if this means you come in an extra hour early Monday morning to catch up on emails, set boundaries for checking work email and messages and stick with it.
- Learn to say “no.” This is difficult, but with some practice and careful selections of what you’re saying no to, this can help reduce your amount of work. If you’re stretched too thin from taking on every project or client, your quality of work is going to suffer. Do the best on a limited amount of tasks instead of mediocre for a great quantity of tasks.
- Have “me” time. Just as you would schedule meetings or deadlines, carve some time for yourself into your schedule. Whether that’s a leisure activity or exercise (which will greatly help with stress levels!), it’s important to have time to do the things you enjoy.
- Find ways to outsource. Share responsibilities with coworkers at work and divvy up chores with a spouse and children, when applicable. Have your groceries delivered or consider hiring a cleaning service to come once or twice a month. See what you can take off your plate and share with others.
Speaking of outsourcing…
If you’re an entrepreneur, solopreneur or a small business owner, it’s incredibly difficult to find a work-life balance. You’re always chasing ways to start or scale your business. And one of the most important ways to do that is to always be available. That means always having your phone with you – taking calls from customers, clients, leads, vendors – you name it. Your phone is always ringing off the hook and technology means your business hours are 24/7. If this sounds familiar, you might want to consider an answering service.
What is an answering service?
An answering service will handle your phone calls for you, freeing you up to focus on other aspects of your business, but also freeing you up to find a work-life balance. Simply forward your business calls to an answering service and live operators will answer, take a message and send the message directly to you. This ensures you never miss another call, or lead, again.
24/7 live answering may help even more
While a typical answering service can help free up your time during traditional work hours, if you struggle with your phone constantly ringing after hours and during weekends and holidays, then you should consider a 24/7 answering service. Consumers are less likely to leave a voicemail message than they are to just call the next business on their list. If you don’t want to risk missing any leads, don’t send your callers to voicemail when you can’t pick up, send them to an answering service!
VoiceNation is the do-it-all answering service
At VoiceNation, we are a 24/7 live answering service – that means weekends and holidays, too! We never close, so your business is always open. Our highly skilled operators and smart technology means your calls are answered exactly how you would. And we do more than just take messages. We can process orders, set or change appointments, and if your business requires it, we can do legal and medical intake and emergency dispatching. Want to learn more? Give us a call at 877.679.3777 or give us a try for free!