Work-life balance is tricky – work can take over. Whether you love your work and get too emotionally invested, or work is a drag that seeps into your free time, achieving a healthy balance is hard.

FLOWN (available on Juno) is an online tool designed to help you get more done and feel great doing it. If work-life balance is your biggest challenge, check it out – the science behind FLOWN is solid and it’s a fun, supportive community to help you change your worklife for good.

Here are five ways you can work towards a better work-life balance.

Tackle your procrastination

Procrastination is when you put off tasks because of avoidance, fear, or lack of motivation. It’s a common problem, and can be caused by perfectionism, low self-esteem, or feeling overwhelmed.

The key to overcoming procrastination is to identify your procrastination trigger and create an actionable plan.

Break tasks into smaller, more manageable steps, set achievable goals, and reward yourself for completing tasks on time. With the right approach and a little self-discipline, you can beat procrastination and get back on track.

Minimize distraction

Distractions set your work-life balance off-kilter – they can make it hard to complete work on time and mean you end up working (and stressing) out of hours to get your work done.

Create an environment that supports focus. Turn off notifications, find a quiet place to work, and give yourself regular breaks. You can also try virtual accountability groups such as FLOWN’s Flocks.

FLOWN runs facilitated online sessions designed to help you banish distraction, focus, and keep you accountable to your goals.

With the right mindset and a few simple tools, you can work smarter, not harder.

Learn to say no

We all want to please our colleagues, but if you always say ‘yes’ to every request, your priorities will quickly get screwy and you’ll be overwhelmed. Goodbye evenings, goodbye weekend.

Learn to say no. There’s no need to apologize. You’re not being difficult, you’re practising self-care. You can’t do everything, and you’re right to prioritize.

The smartest people say ‘no’, then suggest something that makes the other person feel they solved the problem for them anyway. Clever!

Monotask

What are you going to do with your newfound (shorter) list of priorities? Monotask. We already know that distractions are bad. So once you’ve setup your distraction free zone, focus on one task at a time.

Multitasking isn’t really a thing for brains. Studies show that switching between context can impact productivity by up to 40%.

So do one thing at a time, finish it, then move on.

Use timeboxing

Timeboxing is the practice of devoting a set time limit to a task and then stopping once the time is up.

It can help you manage your workload, as well as fit in a healthy dose of self-care. It helps keep you focused, and also stops you from getting too overwhelmed with a long to-do list. Plus, it’s a great way to make sure you’re taking regular breaks and not overworking yourself.

A pro tip, encouraged by Deep Work writer Cal Newport, is to imagine a reasonable time for your task, then halve it. The aggressive timebox forces you to find the fastest way to do the task, and stops you overthinking because there simply isn’t time.

FLOWN’s Flocks are built-in timeboxes for you to tick tasks off. We have 1-hour, 2-hour, and even all day variations. Come with your task, we’ll provide the timebox!

Final thoughts on work-life wellness

The term ‘work-life balance’ is problematic – work is part of life and we spend most of the waking day doing it.

But achieving a sense of balance between your pursuits in work and outside of work is vital to your wellness. Hopefully these tips – and a FLOWN membership – can help you get more done and feel great doing it.