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All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. But all play and no work makes him something worse.

Samuel Smiles

6 Tips for Better Work-Life Balance

Sharing with you Deborah Jian Lee’s 6 tips for better work-life balance.

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1. Let go of perfectionism

The key to avoid burning out is to let go of perfectionism, says Puder-York. “As life gets more expanded it’s very hard, both neurologically and psychologically, to keep that habit of perfection going,” she says, adding that the healthier option is to strive not for perfection, but for excellence.

2. Unplug

From telecommuting to programs that make work easier, technology has helped our lives in many ways. But it has also created expectations of constant accessibility. The work day never seems to end. “There are times when you should just shut your phone off and enjoy the moment,” says Robert Brooks, a professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School and co-author of The Power of Resilience: Achieving Balance, Confidence and Personal Strength in Your Life. Brooks says that phone notifications interrupt your off time and inject an undercurrent of stress in your system. So don’t text at your kid’s soccer game and don’t send work emails while you’re hanging out with family, Brooks advises. Make quality time true quality time. By not reacting to the updates from work, you will developing a stronger habit of resilience. “Resilient people feel a greater sense of control over their lives,” says Brooks, while reactive people have less control and are more prone to stress.

3. Exercise and meditate

Even when we’re busy, we make time for the crucial things in life. We eat. We go to the bathroom. We sleep. And yet one of our most crucial needs – exercise – is often the first thing to go when our calendars fill up. Exercise is an effective stress reducer. It pumps feel-good endorphins through your body. It helps lift your mood and can even serve a one-two punch by also putting you in a meditative state, according to the Mayo Clinic.

4. Limit time-wasting activities and people

First, identify what’s most important in your life. This list will differ for everyone, so make sure it truly reflects your priorities, not someone else’s. Next, draw firm boundaries so you can devote quality time to these high-priority people and activities.

From there, it will be easier to determine what needs to be trimmed from the schedule. If email or internet surfing sends you into a time-wasting spiral, establish rules to keep you on task. That may mean turning off email notifications and replying in batches during limited times each day. If you’re mindlessly surfing Facebook or cat blogs when you should be getting work done, try using productivity software like Freedom, LeechBlock or RescueTime. And if you find your time being gobbled up by less constructive people, find ways to diplomatically limit these interactions. Cornered every morning by the office chatterbox? Politely excuse yourself. Drinks with the work gang the night before a busy, important day? Bow out and get a good night sleep. Focus on the people and activities that reward you the most.

5. Change the structure of your life

Sometimes we fall into a rut and assume our habits are set in stone. Take a birds-eye view of your life and ask yourself: What changes could make life easier?

6. Start small. Build from there.

We’ve all been there: crash diets that fizzle out, New Year’s resolutions we forget by February. It’s the same with work-life balance when we take on too much too quickly, says Brooks. Many of his workaholic clients commit to drastic changes: cutting their hours from 80 hours a week to 40, bumping up their daily run from zero miles a day to five miles a day. It’s a recipe for failure, says Brooks. When one client, who was always absent from his family dinners, vowed to begin attending the meals nightly, Brooks urged him to start smaller. So he began with one evening a week. Eventually, he worked his way up to two to three dinners per week.

“If you’re trying to change a certain script in your life, start small and experience some success. Build from there,” says Brooks.

source: “6 Tips for Better Work-Life Balance” by Deborah Jian Lee, www.forbes.com/sites/deborahlee/2014/10/20/6-tips-for-better-work-life-balance/amp/

7 Ways to Keep Employees Motivated Besides Money

I have been working in a bank for 2 years now, and I've already seen many of my colleagues come and go. So I always question myself, what keeps me motivated to stay in this company? This article by Bubba Page has helped me a lot in realizing the factors for employees' motivation. Check it out! Feel free to share your thoughts and comments as well. :) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Often, the major motivating factor for better performance is higher pay; but almost everyone responds positively to praise and recognition. By Bubba Page Since not all businesses can afford to hand out regular bonuses, here are 7 other ways to help employees stay motivated and productive: 1. Provide supportive leadership: Leadership is one of the key factors in employee motivation. Supportive leaders work closely with employees - trust and a sympathetic ear are powerful incentives for keeping veterans focused and developing new talent. Good leaders act as role models, holding themselves to high standards of accountability that set an example for all. Supportive leadership means recognizing that a leader's expectations influence how employees see themselves: those you consider unlikely to succeed will probably fail. You can help to create the conditions for increased productivity just by starting from the assumption that your employees are skilled and dedicated. 2. Empower the individual: Every employee needs to know that he or she is valued as an individual. No one wants to feel like a faceless, interchangeable pawn in some larger game, so make sure all the members of your workforce are given opportunities to express themselves. Encourage employees to display aspirational personal items. Whether it's collecting travel brochures for a dream getaway or trying paper cutouts of Mercedes wheels on a dream car, anticipating future rewards make work routines seem easier and improve worker morale. 3. Create a positive environment: Since many working professionals spend the majority of their waking hours at the office, the work environment should be a place that puts employees at ease while encouraging productivity. An important step toward creating a happy and productive workspace is to encourage employees to share the information and knowledge, which for a supportive leader usually means more listening than talking. People should be allowed to admit their mistakes without fearing humiliation. Employees can also benefit from being given new and more challenging assignments that take them out of their comfort zones. 4. Encourage teamwork: From the soccer field to the battlefield to the boardroom, nothing is better at keeping an individual focused and responsive than belonging a team. Through teamwork, employees learn to trust each other and to look beyond themselves. And healthy competition in a team setting, both in the office and after hours, can increase creativity as well as productivity. 5. Recognize & reward: Remember that the carrot, not the stick, is most likely to get the best out of your workforce. My own startup Outro has a built-in rewards program for our clients to send gift cards to people when they give a referral or make a warm introduction. It doesn't take much—an employee of the month plaque, a coupon for a Starbucks latte—to create real motivation, especially when recognition takes place in front of the group. Recognition and reward on a regular basis remind employees that they are appreciated, and help them to balance short- and long-term goals. 6. Knock out boredom: Boredom saps motivation and reduces productivity. In order to maintain motivation at the office, keep things lively and new. Avoid routine by allowing employees to explore and be inventive. Try to think of ways to put a new spin on old tasks, and to make sure that the most repetitive tasks don't always fall on the same people. Schedule short breaks so that employees can interact and check in with loved ones. 7. Eliminate dissatisfaction: For many if not most employees, motivation is directly tied to job satisfaction. It almost goes without saying, then, that supportive leadership needs to do everything possible to eliminate such sources of dissatisfaction as uncertainty about the future, intrusive supervision and excessive paperwork. Just knowing that management is aware of problematic areas and is working to address them can help keep employees from losing sight of what they enjoy about their jobs. source: "Ways to Keep Employees Motivated" by Bubba Page, https://www.inc.com/amp/87226.html

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