Studies have shown that most people don’t retire until they’re around the age of 65, and most of us have been working since we were teens. As we get older, we develop more professional experiences alongside our life experiences, and the two even intermingle. Sometimes, it is easy to forget how to separate the two. This blog post serves as a guide on how to manage a healthy work/life balance and all of the things that come with it, such as better time management, how to set boundaries with your employer, and how to better your personal life to improve your success in your workplace.
There are people who believe that there is no such thing as work/life balance, but once you put your work day into perspective, you realize that most Americans spend eight or more hours at work away from home, away from family and friends, and any interests they would have outside of work. The U.S. Department of Labor releases yearly statistics about how Americans spend their time in and outside of work. It was found that employed adults with no children only spend about 4.6 hours of the 24 hours that we all get participating in leisure activities. Employed adults with children under six only get about 3.3 hours of time to participate in leisure activities (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2024). We spend most of our time at work or preparing for work.
If you want to help maintain your happiness and health and restore order in your life…Here is where you can start!
A social psychologist uncovers the psychological basis of the “laziness lie,” which originated with the Puritans and has ultimately created blurred boundaries between work and life with modern technologies and offers advice for not succumbing to societal pressure to “do more.”
Price believed that productivity was the best way to measure his self-worth– until his health began to suffer. Here he explains that the “laziness lie” began with the Puritans, and has continued to proliferate as digital work tools have blurred the boundaries between work and life. We become caught in a constant cycle of achievement-hunting and burnout. Price encourages us to let go of guilt. By becoming attuned to our own limitations and needs we can begin to resist the pressure to meet outdated societal expectations.
Playing A New Game : A Black Woman’s Guide To Being Well And Thriving In The Workplace by Tammy Lewis Wilborn, PhD
“Black and brown women have been making profound strides in leadership and professional achievement, despite facing the added hurdles of both sexism and racism in the workplace. But so often, excelling at work comes at the expense of their wellness: the chronic stressors and demands on Black women can result in negative physical health outcomes such as sleep disturbance, hypertension, and diabetes, and negative mental health outcomes including anxiety and depression. We cannot talk about career advancement for Black and brown women without talking about strategies that promote their total wellbeing. Playing a New Game offers women a new way forward, in which ambition and wellness can not only coexist, but bolster each other. With insights from her 20 years of professional counseling experience and extensive research, mental health expert Dr. Tammy Wilborn expands the dialogue on BIPOC women’s experiences of race and gender stereotypes at work, exploring them as a wellness issue. Through her evidence-based best practices that promote self-care and self-empowerment as necessary tools for professional success, Black and brown women can flip the script by prioritizing their wellness even as they advance professionally.”
“Who doesn’t complain about not having the time and energy they’d like for family, friends, and personal passions? Author Helene Segura coaches real people in the real world to shift past these issues. Her engaging program differs from others in the way it recognizes diverse learning styles – reflective learners, right-brained creative learners, and even “just give me a quick fix” types. Case studies allow readers to self-diagnose and zero in on the strategies most appropriate for them. These wonderfully do-able techniques – for creating clarity, digging out from a buried office, scheduling a variety of priorities, and even telephone and email control – apply to anyone wanting to streamline, downsize, and better manage their work and home lives. Segura’s astute attention to personality allows The Inefficiency Assassin to meet readers where they are struggling and to detail quick and easy-to-implement strategies to, as Segura promises, “kick chaos to the curb.”
Job Therapy: Finding Work That Works For You by Tessa West
“A psychologist’s guide to finding your most fulfilling job yet When we’re unhappy in our jobs, we often attribute our frustration to a bad manager, boring tasks, and stressful workloads. But our dissatisfaction at work usually stems from a deeper psychological need that’s not being met at work, like not getting the recognition you deserve. In Job Therapy, Dr. Tessa West helps you figure out the real reason you’re unhappy and shows you how to find a new position in which you’ll thrive.”
Switchers by Dawn Marie Graham
Don’t settle … SUCCEED in the right career! Are you stuck in an unsatisfying job? In the wrong profession? An industry that just isn’t a fit? Get unstuck! Land a new career– one you’re genuinely passionate about. Switchers helps you realize that dream. Written by celebrated career coach and psychologist Dr. Dawn Graham, the book provides proven strategies that will get you where you want to go.
*Available as an Ebook, Audiobook, and a Book
The Overdue Life Of Amy Byler by Kelly Harms
Overworked and underappreciated, single mom Amy Byler needs a break. So when the guilt-ridden husband who abandoned her shows up and offers to take care of their kids for the summer, she accepts his offer and escapes rural Pennsylvania for New York City.
Usually grounded and mild-mannered, Amy finally lets her hair down in the city that never sleeps. She discovers a life filled with culture and sophistication and—with a little encouragement from her friends—a few blind dates. When one man, in particular, makes quick work of Amy’s heart, she risks losing herself completely in the unexpected escape, and as the summer comes to an end, Amy realizes too late that she must make an impossible stay in this exciting new chapter of her life, or return to the life she left behind.
*Also available in Large Print
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
Thirty-six-year-old Tokyo resident Keiko Furukara has never fit in–neither in her family nor in school-but when at the age of eighteen, she begins working at the Hiiromachi branch of the national convenience store chain Smile Mart, she realizes instantly that she has found her purpose in life. Delighted to be able to exist in a place where the rules of social interaction are crystal clear (many are laid out line by line in the store’s manual), Keiko does her best to copy the dress, mannerisms, and mode of speech of her colleagues, playing the part of a “normal” person excellently, more or less. Keiko is the perfect employee–never late, always worrying about how to maximize sales, brilliantly conscientious, and highly energetic. Managers come and go but Keiko remains at the store for eighteen years. It’s almost hard to tell where the store ends, and she begins. Keiko is very happy in her life, but the people close to her, from her family to her coworkers, pressure her to settle down with a man and to find a proper profession. Eventually, she is pushed to make a huge change. The static world of Keiko is upended, but will it be for the better?A brilliant depiction of an unusual psyche and an extraordinary world, Convenience Store Woman is both an ironic and sharp-eyed look at contemporary work culture and the pressures to conform, as well as a charming and completely fresh portrait of an unforgettable heroine.
*Available as an Ebook, Audiobook, and a Book
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management For Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
“A lively philosophical guide to time and time management, setting aside superficial efficiency solutions in favor of reckoning with and finding joy in the finitude of human life.”
