What is Work Pressure?
Work pressure arises when your professional field becomes stressful. Often, owing to your personality you tend to take up too much work, or too demanding a project, or your work simply takes up most of your time.
It might be an amazing way to sky-rocket into your glorious future, with an amazing career, but it is harmful when not controlled, in a number of ways that you may not be able to notice on the outside. To strike a balance between work and leisure is very important.
Here are 7 effective steps that may help you make time for friends and family by managing work pressure.
Define ‘work’ and ‘family’ as separate fields
People who blur the boundaries between family, or even ‘home’ and ‘work’ have the most problems managing the two. You must define what ‘family’ means to you, and how important work is for you.
Given that both must be extremely important for you, you have to recognize that you need to separate them in order to function in a smooth manner. So, remember to NEVER bring home your work frustration in a way that you express the stress by screaming at your family members.
Divide your time
As a functioning adult, you must know yourself, and how much time you can give to each of the fields. Never keep two events at the same time. Never take work phone calls while at the family meal. Honestly, most of us tend to prioritize family and friends in our division of time we are ready to give to them.
However, practically, it becomes difficult to compromise work and give enough time to personal lives. So, it is important to divide your time in such a way that there are different time-slots for work and family/friends.
Define ‘working hours’
In India, working hours has always been an undefined entity! However, it is important to stick by definite working hours. Talk about your working hours before you take up a job, and make sure you are not exploited or under-paid for working extra-hours!
Here, it is important to bring the present times in mind, where the concept of ‘work from home’ has caused immense problems in separating work and home. Even if you are working at home, have separate room and time for work. This will decrease stress and help you organize yourself.
Make a routine
Sketch out all the work you have everyday, or make a weekly work-schedule. This is will help you figure out the time you can spend with friends and family. Time-management in an extremely important step to effective organization. Minimize distractions, and work on one thing at a time, always!
Keep a journal
To manage work pressure and family duties, you HAVE to give time to YOURSELF first! The best way to spend time with yourself is to write a journal– where you can write down your feelings without someone else judging you. Often, this helps figure out solutions to your personal problems in a deep and thoughtful manner.
Talk it out!
If your family members or friends ever feel hurt by your prioritization of work matters, talk it out. Tell them why you chose work, and if there was something that you could not avoid, remember to speak to them about it, so they don’t feel completely left out.
In the situation of a dilemma- PRIORITIZE!
Balance is key, but at a few situations, you have to prioritize one over the other. There should not be any moral obligations while choosing. Whichever makes you happier in the long run, is the way to go! If you follow the above steps, you will definitely have a clarity, and it will not be difficult to choose, at confusing situations, and managing work pressure will become easier!
