Government jobs can be stressful. Here’s how to maximize your work-life balance when working in a government role. Your life is about to become much easier!
The pressure of a government job can make it difficult to get out from under your work. Whether you work in housing, Social Security, or at a post office, you have some important responsibilities.
Go ahead and take a deep breath.
Now let it out.
Believe it or not, you can achieve a balance between your crucial role at work and your everyday life as a citizen. And I’m here to show you how.
Here are some ways to maximize your work-life balance while working in a government role.
1. Figure Out Your Priorities
Your work-life balance starts with knowing what is important to you. This has to do with things in both your work life and your home life. Things you have to do and things you want to do are all priorities.
By examining your priorities, you’ll make sure you have enough time to do everything.
Start with the immovable priorities — the big boys. These include work and anything on a set schedule. Do you have kids that play sports? Are there any regular doctor appointments you go to?
Mark these things out first so you know where you stand with your time.
Move on to your more flexible priorities and work them into your schedule. Date night, game night, and hanging out with friends all deserve time in your life, so give it to them.
Knowing what’s at the top of your priority list helps you push lesser things to the wayside, ensuring you get to do things outside of your job that you feel are the most important.
2. Schedule Everything
Time to get to your schedule. When we say to schedule everything, we mean everything.
Work is clearly already present on your schedule, but it shouldn’t be the only thing with a definitive time slot. You have to pay attention to your priorities and put them on the same level as work.
Schedule family time and make sure everyone in the house knows about it.
When everyone knows that it’s time to get together and hang out, it’s much more likely to happen. Even if it feels silly to schedule time with the people you live with, it’ll help immensely.
You should even be scheduling your “me time” so you don’t miss out on it.
Scheduling everything you want to do makes it easier for you to follow through rather than getting pulled into other stuff.
3. Go in Early and Leave Early
For the most part, federal jobs are pretty limited in terms of the hours you can work. You’re probably looking at a regular nine-to-five every day.
But, you may be able to find a little wiggle room. Try going in an hour earlier so that you can leave an hour earlier.
That would leave you a little extra time to pick up your kids from school, go to sports practices, or just spend time with someone special.
If you can’t negotiate for more time after work, consider giving yourself more time before work.
Getting up an hour earlier than usual gives you a little time to yourself before the day begins. Stretching, exercising, and meditating are all more efficient in the early morning.
The morning is also a fantastic time to work on a hobby or passion project that you wouldn’t otherwise have time for.
Carve out that time for yourself and it will become sacred to you.
4. Don’t Keep Yourself After Hours
This one is a big one.
Know what time you need to leave the office and stick to it. When it’s time to go, you should be ready to walk out the door.
One of the best ways to make sure you’re not staying late is to communicate with your co-workers. If other people depend on you for things, then they need to know when you’re leaving.
Work backward from quitting time and plan accordingly. If you’re leaving at 5 p.m. sharp, the big task set for this afternoon has to be started no later than 1 p.m.
By planning backward from the end of your day, you’re much less likely to try to shove extra work in that you can’t complete on time.
5. Leave Your Work at Work
You’ve left the office. That’s it. You’re done for the day.
Working at home isn’t productive if it’s messing with your mental or emotional health. It goes beyond physically bringing your work home and doing it in your kitchen at night.
When work is over and you walk out that door, it’s time to put your mind on other things.
It can be difficult to turn your mind off, but it’s something you should practice until you have it down. Thinking about all the stuff you have to do for the rest of the week or trying to problem-solve at dinner is only taking away from the time you’re spending with others.
Envision a switch and when you get in your car to go home, flip it. Now leave it off until you walk into the office tomorrow.
6. Just Say No
All of a sudden, you’ve found yourself with free time you weren’t expecting.
We know it can be extremely tempting to fill that time up with something. Maybe you feel you should be working since you’re not doing anything else.
Don’t fall into that trap.
If you’re going to do something with this unscheduled time, do something you enjoy. Take some time for yourself and relax. Enjoy the moment without feeling guilty about it.
At the same time, you shouldn’t feel obligated to go out and do something you don’t want to do just because you have a night off and nothing scheduled.
Exercise your right to say no and go home instead. Your free time is your time and you should keep it that way.
7. Realize a Perfect Balance Doesn’t Exist
It’s easy to imagine work-life balance as a perfect split.
You go to work and have a super productive day. Then you go home and have a good time with your family or friends.
Rinse and repeat.
Unfortunately, that’s just your imagination.
Work-life balance is a bigger picture. Some days are going to be filled with work and you’ll be too busy to think about doing anything else. Other days will be filled with making memories and having fun.
You’re looking for a nice blend of busy and personal days that balance each other out and keep you from leaning too far in either direction.
Beware of zooming out on that picture too far, though.
Waiting until retirement to enjoy your life just isn’t going to work. That’s too long to wait for a life that’s fulfilling in every aspect.
In Summary
Yes, your work is incredibly important. A lot of people depend on you to do what you do best. But in order to stay productive at work, you need some relaxation time.
These seven tips will help you stay balanced while working in a government role.
If you follow them, you’ll have a mentally and emotionally satisfying life.
Author Bio:
Dominique Daniels leads the Property Management team at The Cove, a luxury apartment community in Hingham, MA.
