Transcript
Regaining our work/life balance
How can we find the right balance between work and life? A good way to start is by finding out what really matters to us right now.
How would you arrange these three priorities? Which is the most important to you?
A lot of us might like to think we put health and family first. But in reality, we let work and money dominate our time and our thoughts.
So how can we better protect the precious time we have to be with our families, hang out with our friends or just sit and daydream?
One of the best ways to rebalance our lives is to get better at knowing what to say “Yes” to, and what to say “No” to.
It sounds simple. But if it was, we wouldn’t find ourselves...
...always taking on more work than is good for us. So here’s how to keep things positive, whether you want to say yes or no.
Lay the foundations. If you’re with someone who might want to give you a new task or an extra shift...
...pre-empt it by mentioning your priorities and how much work you already have on.
Give it some thought. Instead of saying no on the spot, tell them you’ll think about it.
Then perhaps you can change your priorities to suit both of you.
Or if you still want to say no, you can say something like, “I’ve thought it over...
...and checked my commitments...
..and I can’t do this right now.”
Give reasons. Say why you can’t take on more work, so they better understand and feel more involved in the decision.
Keep your options open. If it sounds like something you may be able to say yes to at a later date, you could say something like, “It sounds interesting...
...but I just don’t have the time right now...
...if it can wait, could you check back with me next week?
If we can find the right balance between saying yes and no, we can find the right balance between work and life.
This is the end of our ‘Always on’ culture modules. You can explore mental health further by watching our videos about Mental Health Awareness and Resilience.