Welcome to Day 24 of the 30 Days of Career Growth! Today’s task focuses on two essential aspects of a successful and fulfilling career: work-life balance and self-care. In our fast-paced and demanding professional lives, it’s crucial to recognize the significance of maintaining a healthy balance between work responsibilities and personal well-being. Taking care of yourself and prioritizing work-life balance not only contributes to your overall happiness but also enhances your productivity and long-term success.
Task 24:
Reflect on the importance of work-life balance: Consider the ways in which a healthy balance between work and personal life can positively impact your career, relationships, and overall well-being. Think about the potential consequences of neglecting self-care and overcommitting to work-related tasks. Note: your learnings from task 23’s talk on “Don’t Be A Superhero” can be used and built upon for today’s task.
Research and gather insights: Explore articles, talks, or personal stories that shed light on the importance of maintaining a healthy balance and practising self-care while avoiding burnout. Look for strategies, tips, or useful practices that promote work-life balance and self-care in the face of workplace pressures.
Share your thoughts and experiences: In reply to this post, share the strategies or practices you have adopted to maintain a healthy balance in your professional and personal life. Share any challenges you have faced and the positive impact that work-life balance and self-care have had on your career.
Learn from others: Read and like or comment on other members’ posts that resonate with you or provide valuable insights.
Remember, achieving work-life balance and prioritizing self-care is an ongoing journey. By participating in this task, you are taking a proactive step towards creating a healthier and more fulfilling career. Your contributions to the community will inspire and support others in their own quest for work-life balance and self-care.
I was very unorganized for a large part of my career till now. I used to always take things on the go.
For me, whether it was yesterday’s or today’s tasks take away my health is my only priority.
I don’t believe in work-life balance at all and I only prioritize my self-care. If that means watching Netflix most days of the month also I would do it.
Work will always be there but if I’m not happy I will face the situation over and again.
So lots of self-care first and then do things at my own pace.
Reflect Analyze and reset things if they arent working.
Breathe
Gratitude
Be Yourself is my mantra and this has helped me .
Planning your day whether things work in your favour or not will eventually organize your life and i totally agree with it now.
Journalling and putting your feelings out in your book, on social media or telling someone helps
Meditation every day to keep emotions in check.
I burn candles and close my eyes and sit. It helps me calm down. Looking at all things green gave good vibes.
Cold or hot showers.Detox days and avoid twitter and LinkedIn particularly.
I’m happy today because im more fortunate than others.
For me, the biggest change that I made in my career is marking that strict line in the sand between personal and professional. With that in mind, I have nothing work related on my personal phone or computer. No messaging, email, nothing.
When it is work hours, I am working with my work laptop. When it is time to end work, I end my work and move to my personal computer. While this doesn’t eliminate the idea of ‘working late’ when the situation dictates it, it does help with me being able to turn off my brain and get out of work mode - Plus there is no temptation to ‘just check out this email response really quickly’.
Just remember: No matter how much work gets done, there is always more. It is your priority to keep a healthy work/life balance, and make sure that balance is maintained.
I do the same thing. I mostly work from home these days, so when my work day is done, I turn off the work laptop. It gets powered up again when it’s time to start work again.
While the work laptop is on, I’m “at work” even though my work desk is right next to my home system’s desk. I still physically move from the work system to the home system when I shut down at the end of the day to mark that I’m done with the day.
It does help to have that clear dividing line between working and not-working.
I’m glad that the tech community is openly discussing burnout and self-care. I do feel that the discussion can only go so far without employer backing. I don’t know if knowledge workers can realistically defeat systemic issues by wanting balance strategizing around a demanding environment.
I am thinking more intensely about ways to care for my health. This isn’t a quick fix though. Implementing changes (scheduling specialist visits, following up, finding ways to work with my employer’s needs while honoring my own limits) takes years.
I hope that I am not completely out of topic, but lately I have been thinking about slowing down in some situations. Often my mind is telling me that I should react immediately. “This situation is urgent, so do something now before it gets worse!” The truth is that most of the time I make it worse by reacting impulsively. If I do not give myself the privilege of pausing, my automatic behavioural programmes kick in and I actually lose my free will. These programmes work on past experiences, so I cannot bring a new perspective to the situation. So I learn to stop and breathe. This short moment of inactivity is often enough to step away from my learned reactions. It gives me new space and the opportunity to really decide what to do next. For me, this applies to an ‘emergency’ work email and even to my child screaming in the shop I feel that there is a tendency that we should deliver more and faster, but what I really need is to stop and let go sometimes. Only then can new things come
Since I have a neurological disability (narcolepsy) I don’t have a choice - I have to be extremely vigilant about work-life balance or Bad Things Happen. I can’t work long days - if I can get enough of a break to nap for an hour, I can manage 9 hours from arrival to departure, but that is my limit. Much longer than that and I become a danger to myself as well as others.
So, when I’m working from home (which is thankfully the norm nowadays), I’m careful not to work for too long. If I push too hard on one day, I’ll be sluggish and half asleep until I can get a day of doing next to nothing. One day in the office with the not-quite-an-hour-each-way commute is about all I can manage.
I honestly don’t see it as a huge disadvantage, although I admit that if my employer did midnight deployments requiring everyone present, I’d have to leave or shut down early, sleep for a few hours before coming back online for the deployment, then go back to sleep for the rest of the night and start late the next day. I’ve done this a few times, and it messes with me for the rest of the week, but needs must and all that.
For me, it’s a case of “never a hero” since whoever heard of a hero who falls asleep if they work too hard? I just do what I need to in order to make sure what has to happen happens.
Since last year I have been paying attention to this topic, work-life balance, one thing I have been trying is meditation, I think this is a good way to pay attention to our feelings and learn how to manage them.
Usually, when I finish my daily work, I put my phone in no disturb mode and try to do things that I like, for example reading, listening to music, etc.
I think this has helped me cope with strees and made me realize that I don´t always need to worry so much about work.
I believe nowadays many companies still allow remote work so work-life balance has somehow been quite easy to handle (maybe I’m not totally correct in this sense). I’ve had great work-life balance in my current job thanks to flexible working hours and understanding colleagues.
Cannot agree more with you @mahatheed about self-care. I’ve been paying attention to this when I turned 30. Work is part of our identities besides others such as care-taker, partner, community builder, etc. In order to maintain these identities, we have to cherish our own as a individual which needs both physical and mental care.
For me self-care can be as simple as sitting on a hammock in the backyard and having a cold drink in my hand or can be a simple comfort meal cooked by loved ones
Aroma therapy is excellent way to calm down and relax. Treat yourself buy paying a professional masseuse to tenderize your tensed muscles (you’ll notice the difference from using an electronic massager).
30 Days of Career Growth! 
Today’s task focuses on two essential aspects of a successful and fulfilling career: work-life balance and self-care. In our fast-paced and demanding professional lives, it’s crucial to recognize the significance of maintaining a healthy balance between work responsibilities and personal well-being. Taking care of yourself and prioritizing work-life balance not only contributes to your overall happiness but also enhances your productivity and long-term success.
I feel that there is a tendency that we should deliver more and faster, but what I really need is to stop and let go sometimes. Only then can new things come 
(you’ll notice the difference from using an electronic massager).