Stop Working to Recover and Achieve Work-Life Balance

In this post, we define work recovery, discuss the benefits of work recovery and work-life balance and share strategies to have good work boundaries.

If you prefer to watch the video, click here.

In today’s blog, we are talking about the concept of work recovery and why you need to stop working to be more productive. I know it sounds like a crazy concept, but read on and I will explain the science behind ensuring you have intentional recovery time away from your work and honoring work boundaries.

What is Work Recovery?

First, what is work recovery time? Work recovery is allowing yourself to step away from your work so that you can reduce or eliminate the psychological and physical strain and stress caused by the work so that your brain and body can rest, relax and recharge.

We all know people who wear their busyness as a badge of honor. It seems that they can never get away from their work. They're always on their phone, they're always on their email, always thinking about work. I hope this isn’t you!

As I’ve gotten older, I see that busyness is not something to be proud of. It's actually a weakness because it shows that you can't set good work boundaries around your work so that you can have work-life balance.

A strength, instead, is to prioritize other areas of your life in addition to work and be able to set those boundaries that are healthy and which allow yourself to recover.

What are the Benefits of Balancing Work and Recovery?

When you take time to recover, you can regain your energy. As a result, we can be engaged and creative in our work. Our bodies and minds can be healthier and more fulfilled because we are giving our presence and energy to other important areas of our life besides our work.

When we talk about the concept of detaching psychologically from work, what is important to note right off the bat is that detaching from work means not only putting your work away but also ceasing to think about your work. And, let’s be honest, not thinking about work can be a little bit harder. But with practice and over time, it gets easier and easier.

There has been a lot of research about the benefits of work recovery and of having boundaries to ensure work-life balance. People who detach psychologically from their work procrastinate less when they are working because they're more focused.

People who regularly detach from their work have far greater engagement and dedication to their work, and they're able to become absorbed in their work and get into flow. People who know how to set work boundaries experience greater work-life balance, which directly relates to their quality of life, which also means they're not de-prioritizing other areas of their life for their work.

They have greater marital satisfaction and can have better parent-child relationships because of their ability to detach from their work.

And, not surprisingly given all of the positive impacts they experience, people who detach from work regularly have improved mental health and reduced depression.

When Should You Prioritize Work Recovery Time?

First, you should be recovering throughout each workday. Because our work today tends to be mental work or creative work, and we can have physical strain from this work (eye strain and being hunched over a computer), we must give ourselves periodic breaks where we can get up from our workspaces and give our bodies and minds a break.

Research suggests that it is important that we give ourselves a break every 50 to 90 minutes for at least 5-10 minutes. Some of the most productive leaders schedule meetings for no longer than 50 minutes with a planned 10-minute break before the next meeting or task.

In addition, having set work hours is really important, especially if you are an entrepreneur or small business leader because you are intentionally balancing work and recovery. As an entrepreneur, I tend to work from the early morning into the early evening. I sometimes think that, because I have so much to do, I should keep working until the point of physical exhaustion.

The reality is that not only is this schedule not healthy, but my productivity also diminishes the longer that I work. I am going to set work hours and practice what I preach to see if I can accomplish just as much if not more, but being selective and allowing my mind to recharge outside of my workday.

As a bonus tip, according to psychologist Ron Friedman, Ph.D., “Typically, we have a window of about three hours where we’re really, really focused. We’re able to have some strong contributions in terms of planning, in terms of thinking and in terms of speaking well.”

Psychologist and motivational author Benjamin Hardy, Ph.D., expands on this concept stating, “Rather than spending 8-10 hours in low-focused and high-distracted work, spend 3-5 hours in engaged and absorbed flow. You’ll get more done in one day than most people get done in a week. You’ll also be able to more fully engage in other essential areas of your life.”

Then, at the end of the week, we should reserve our weekends for recovery time. We shouldn't be working on weekends.

Again, as entrepreneurs, sometimes this is more easily said than done. At times, working on a weekend is inevitable and understandable if you're coming up on a launch or a deadline on client work. But on a regular basis, we should try not to work on weekends and to honor the weekends for ourselves, for our self-care, for our friends and our social relationships as well as for our family members.

How Can You Set Work Boundaries to Prioritize Recovery?

Being able to recover is, in large part, the direct result of the work boundaries that you can set for yourself and your business.

First, as mentioned earlier, we need to set our work schedule and stick to it.

Next, at the end of our working hours, we want to make sure that our work is out of sight so that we are not tempted to jump back in and, even more importantly, we are not even tempted to think about work. If you work outside of the home, this is a little easier.

If you work from home and you are fortunate to have an office, shut the door to the office at the end of the day. If you work from home and sometimes work at our kitchen table or another area within your home, you should make a conscious effort to remove your work materials from your living area at the end of the day. This creates a mental boundary in addition to a physical boundary because your work will be out of sight and your mind will be able to relax and recharge without staring at a stack of unfinished business.

The next tip is to truly honor your weekends. To do this, make some plans with friends or family members or make a date with yourself to get a massage, take a hike in nature, or do something that is a treat. If you plan something fun, you will get to look forward to it during the week and it will truly be a reward for the hard work that you’ve put in during your working hours.

And, finally, we need to set clear work boundaries and expectations with clients and team members by notifying them of working hours and letting them know that you won’t be available to them outside of those working hours, except in the event of an emergency. You get bonus points if you also describe the criteria under which they should contact you outside of working hours.

Sometimes, as entrepreneurs and small business leaders, we want to overdeliver with customer service and client experience. That is a fine value to have, but you should also permit yourself to have the benefit of working hours and to communicate those hours tour clients and other team members.

Knowing that you, as the leader of your business, know how to set boundaries for work-life balance, is a powerful statement of strength to those around you. They will respect you even more for doing so. When you role model work boundaries and recovery from work, you are giving a gift to your clients and your team members because you are encouraging them to do the same in their own lives.

I hope that you will take this research on work recovery and try some of these tips in your work. Please also enjoy this free Work Recovery Checklist I’ve created to remind you of the benefits and tips that I’ve shared in this week’s video.

Categories: : Focus, Habits, Leadership, Strategy, Stress