By esantiago@hubspot.com (Erica Santiago)

When I started working from home, I thought work-life balance would come naturally. After all, I have no commute and don‘t have to plan what I wear each workday. And when it’s all over, I can close my laptop and turn on the TV.

Now, I realize how difficult it is to achieve a work-life balance, regardless of whether you work remotely or in an office.

If you work from home, you technically live at work — which can skew the balance. And if you work at an office, your commute to and from work can cut into your personal time.

Fortunately, there are ways to balance work and life, whether remote or in-person.

Let’s explore five secrets to achieving a work-life balance, according to HubSpot employees. But first, what even is work-life balance?

What is work-life balance?

Work-life balance describes how your work intersects with your personal life, such as family, leisure, or health. Ideally, you want a balance in which you’re not sacrificing your personal life to keep up with work or vice versa.

Before working at HubSpot, I was a journalist for various TV stations.

Any journalist will tell you it’s easy for the profession to take over your life, leaving very little time for hobbies, rest, or personal relationships — since breaking news never takes a day off.

When I put too much focus on the work, my relationships with friends and family deteriorated, negatively impacting my mental health. On the other hand, when my personal life bled into my professional life, my work suffered.

So, how do you strike the right balance? I spoke to a few colleagues at HubSpot and drew from my personal experiences to provide insight. So, let’s dive into different ways to maintain a healthy work-life balance.

5 Tips for Work-Life Balance

1. Set boundaries.

Boundaries are crucial to balancing your personal and professional lives, regardless of your passion for your job.

“Boundary setting is one of the single greatest powers I’ve been able to uphold in my professional working career,” says Linda Huard, senior technical recruiter at HubSpot. “And, as a part of the boundary setting, I do not install work apps on my personal device.”

That means Slack, work email, and LinkedIn are not on her phone.

“It’s just too tempting to check during non-working hours,” she says. “I tell anyone I work with that when I’m on and in front of my laptop, I am giving 110%, but when I’m off-line, I’m completely off. This means evenings, weekends, holidays, and vacations remain completely mine.”

Huard says to set these boundaries early and hold to them.

Setting boundaries is definitely something I still struggle with regarding work-life balance.

In fact, the night before writing this post, I logged into my work computer at about 9 p.m. and spent the rest …read more

Source:: HubSpot Blog

Author: Aaron