Making work work

If you are feeling overworked, exhausted and depleted, the first step is to let go at work and take care of yourself… When you are exhausted and depleted and don’t know where you’ll find energy to tackle that next project — take a leap into the unknown.

Trust that work will survive without you for an hour, an evening or a weekend. You must embrace the fact that sometimes your best hope for getting to the bottom of your to-do list is to let go and take care of yourself personally.
    
What constitutes ‘balance’? Being in balance is about energy management — about spending your time on things that restore and relax you, knowing what springs you back up to eight cylinders when your engine is beginning to cough and choke.
    
Everyone’s idea of ‘being in balance’ is a little different. Some people are thrilled with a Sunday to themselves once a month, while others can’t imagine life with fewer than four weeks of vacation a year.

Some people find joy in gardening, while others just want to curl up with a good book every night. The commonality among us is the guilt — no matter how we define balance, most people believe we should be responsible to work before ourselves.
    
You may fear that letting go and regrabbing requires drastic measures. You may fantasise about quitting your job, changing careers, seeking a more peaceful existence.

But if you take care of yourself in little ways on a consistent basis, reclaiming your balance does not call for radically altering your life.