With all the accessibility afforded to us by technology, it’s easy to still be caught up at work even after leaving the office. There are many factors that have folks putting in 50-hour or even 65-hour work weeks, both at work and at home: fears of job loss, financial pressure, or struggling to meet the expectations of colleagues. However, the compounding stress of your job along with a lack of downtime can damage your health. Prioritising your work over your personal life can also hurt your relationships as well as your physical and mental wellbeing. The best preventative measure against burnout is a healthy work-life balance. This can look different for different people, but the following tips could put you on the path to finding harmony between your personal and professional lives.

Finding Balance At Work

Time management: Minimise disruptions and limit time-wasting activities and people by becoming strict with your daily schedule that is built around your personal and professional priorities. Don’t be afraid to limit time-wasting activities and conversations either. You are allowed to politely excuse yourself from a conversation with the office chatterbox or bow out of going out for drinks after work in favour of getting a decent night’s sleep.

Reduce email access: Your daily habit of checking your email first thing in the morning may be hurting your productivity throughout the day. You may have walked into work knowing what you wanted to accomplish that day, only to have those plans derailed the minute you got a look at your inbox. Rather block off an hour or two later in the day to review and respond to emails. This will allow you to get the most out of your mornings without burning out by lunchtime.

Learn to say no: There more responsibilities you commit to, the more people will believe you can take on. It’s alright to admit to your boss or even to yourself that you already have a lot on your plate and have to decline managing that team or starting on yet another project. There is certainly a time when going the extra mile pays off, but these commitments should never be made at the expense of your health and personal relationships.

Exercise/meditation: Exercise is a sure-fire way to reduce your stress as it pours endorphins into your system, while putting your mind into a meditative state. The happy hormones and oxygenated blood rushing through your brain can help you solve issues that you’ve been grappling with all day. So, try jogging up the stairs in your office building or start a lunchtime walking group with some of your coworkers. If you don’t have the time or space to get in a proper workout, consider trying some exercises that can be done at your desk or simply take five minutes to meditate or practice deep breathing at your desk.

Balancing Life Outside Of The Office

Healthy living: Stick to a predominantly Mediterranean Diet – emphasising fresh fruit and vegetables and lean proteins – which promotes brain health and physical stamina. Getting enough sleep can do much of the same, so avoid electronic devices like phones and tablets before bed, and aim to get a full eight hours when you can.

Leave work at work: Whether you’re telecommuting or simply expected to jump for your boss outside of work, an expectation of constant accessibility can make the work day seem unending. Constant phone notifications can take you out of a personal moment and leave you stressed about issues at work that shouldn’t be a problem until you’re back in the office where you can actually do something about them. So, shut off your phone and allow real quality time for the things that matter in your personal life – family, friends, hobbies.

Dedicate time to having fun: Be intentional about your quality time and schedule activities (or even complete inactivity) that you enjoy, whether with friends or on your own. Spend time on a hobby that builds you up or discover a fun, new pastime. Even better, find a hobby you can do with a friend, your partner or your family, like hiking or dancing.

Volunteer: While you should be careful not to overschedule yourself, performing random acts of kindness and selective volunteering may reduce your sense of burnout and improve your social and emotional wellbeing. By giving back to your community, you are reminded of the things you are grateful for in your own life and can feel more connected within the community you’re serving.

Get the most out of your free time so you can put in that extra energy at work when it counts.

The Industrial Revolution, which rumbled to life in the mid-1700s, gave the world a number of handy inventions, such as steam engines, that improved the lives of many. However, this doesn’t mean the employment ethics had developed alongside the inventions that enabled the joys and benefits of mass production. Since the new technology meant there was no longer a need for skilled tradesmen, the many labourers were easy to abuse and replace. Men, women and even children, who worked in factories and mines, were treated miserably by their employers and had little to no recourse if they should be injured on the job or unfairly dismissed. If you think you hate your job, think again! Here are some of the woeful working conditions suffered by the people of the Industrial Revolution.

Low Wages

You did not need a high-level education to work the steam-powered machines at the time and even the most skilled tradesmen struggled to compete with the speed and efficiency of the mechanised assembly line processes. As such, employers could get away with employing largely unskilled workers, whom they would pay abominably low wages. Women could expect to earn only half, if not a third, of a man’s wages and children earned even less for the same number of hours worked (anywhere between twelve and sixteen hours each day). Due to the fact that there were droves of desperate people flooding urban areas looking for work, employers had a massive labour pool to draw from and could set their wages as low as they liked.

Occupational Hazards

During the Industrial Revolution, most people worked in obscenely dangerous environments. Machinery in those days didn’t have safety covers or fences and children were often used to clean them, since they were often the only workers small enough to reach the innermost parts of the machines. There was very little sunlight in the factories and whatever light was present was choked out by the smoke from the steam-powered machines. The smoke from the coal-fed machinery, aside from covering factory workers in soot, would also cause eye and lung problems. Things were much worse for children in these work environments. The lack of sunlight and exercise outside of their work caused many young children to develop physical deformities and stunt their growth. Young girls were made to pull carts of coal out of the mines, which would deform their pelvises and led to many deaths during childbirth. Like these long-term health issues, accidents were just as common.

No Sick Leave

You would think factory owners would at least compensate their employees for working under these dangerous conditions. No such luck! You see, the benefit of employing low-skilled workers from a massive labour pool meant that your employees were in every way expendable. If you, as a worker, were injured on the job or were otherwise unable to work, you would likely be dismissed (aka fired) immediately without pay. Employers were also not obliged to pay their employees’ medical expenses for any injuries sustained at work.

All Work, No Play

A typical work environment of the Industrial Revolution was very fast-paced and centred around production. Chatter between the workers on the factory floor was strongly discouraged and anyone hoping to take some time off to visit their family in the country was hoping in vain. There were no breaks allowed outside of an hour-long break each day. Any child caught sleeping on the job – and after working sixteen-hour days, who could blame them? – would be beaten. How’s that for an office culture?

Lack Of Rights

At the time of the Industrial Revolution, the political ideology of the day prevented the government from interfering in the operations of private businesses. This meant that employers were quite free to make use of child labour, pay terribly low wages, and abandon any employees who were injured or deemed unfit to work. The overall abuse of workers eventually led to the introduction of child labour and minimum wage laws, as well as the formation of labour unions, which sought to combat the long hours for low pay and force employers to take responsibility for employees, who were injured as a result of their poor work environment. However, these labour unions would often fail due to the fact that many workers were still willing to work, despite the unfair treatment.

So, to recap: If you were working during the Industrial Revolution, you would be earning next to nothing, working in dangerous conditions that could easily lead to injury and long-term health problems, you could be dismissed at a whim and couldn’t do anything about any of it.

Say it with me now: “I love my job.”