5 Ways How a Balanced Lifestyle can Help your Professional Career (5 mins Read)

Healthy habits can have a huge impact on your professional career by keeping you and your business running along smoothly. In order to be successful at work it needs a lot of focus, dedication, commitment and time. But to be your best professional self it needs that you take care of your health too. When you do not follow the basic healthy habits, then you run the risk of being exhausted, not focused and more vulnerable to illness. This can have a big negative impact on your performance, whether you work from home or from an office.

Following are some of the simple healthy habits which can add more value to your day to improve your performance at work.

1. Exercising regularly:

Exercising regularly is one of the best ways to improve both physical as well as mental performance. This has been found to impact almost all the areas of health, starting from helping in managing stress and promoting proper functioning of the brain. Adding exercise to your day doesn’t need to be very complicated and it doesn’t at all need spending a full hour at the gym. It just needs getting up from your desk every now and then to take a brief walk around the home or office which can make a difference in boosting productivity.

A study found that the participants who walked regularly on a treadmill desk over a period of one year had quite a significant increase in their performance rating from their managers.

2. Practicing mindfulness:

Mindfulness is a practice which stemmed from the Buddhist tradition of focusing at the present moment and it has repeatedly found to help improve the work performance. A study evaluated the effect of weekly training on mindfulness, exercise and yoga on the employee productivity, reducing stress, improving mental health and providing better sleep. Employees who got the training showed improvement in all the above areas and also began to work for more hours, thereby increasing productivity.

In order to start practicing mindfulness, just take 5 minutes out from your day in a quiet space to focus just on breathing. Your mind will be calmed by the mental break and productivity would increase.

3. Must have enough quality sleep:

Poor sleeping habits have a big negative impact on the work performance of the employee. Staying up late in order to meet the deadlines or participating in personal activities till late at night makes you drowsy for the next day. On the other hand when people focus on getting enough quality sleep, all the areas of productivity and daily functions start to improve. Moreover, stress tends to reduce. Although everyone is different, still most people need at least 7 hours of good sleep to perform at their best.

4. Have healthy foods:

Although there is nothing wrong in snacking, but having access to all types of unhealthy foods all the time can lead us to more unhealthy habits. The best way to avoid reaching for unhealthy snacks is to make healthy foods more accessible.

You need to keep fruits on the counter so that you can grab and go. Put fresh produce like carrots, cherry tomatoes or celery sticks on the top shelf of the fridge, so that those are the first things you see when you go for a snack. Have protein which helps keep the energy levels stable. String cheese, nuts and yogurt are all great choices. Having healthy choices at hand does need a lot of planning, but it’s worth it: Eating healthy helps you stay sharp and focused, manage your weight and increase productivity.

5. Take breaks at regular intervals:

Last but not the least, even though you are working for yourself, make sure to take official work breaks during the day at regular scheduled times or whenever you feel losing the focus. Getting up from the desk for even as little as 10 minutes can help regain the focus when you return.

Try to take the lunch break for at least 30 minutes, rather than rushing through your lunch at your desk. This can help you refresh so that you can be as productive as possible after the lunch. Adding only a few healthy habits into the workday can boost your mood, reduce stress and significantly increase productivity. Not only you will feel better for it, but your business too may be better off.

There are several benefits of maintaining a healthy lifestyle some of which are as follows:

1. Helps in staying in a good mood:

You'll be able to keep a better mood and be able to improve your productivity.  As we all have stressful jobs with a lot of work to do, there exercising helps us feel happier about ourselves and we can see the day through smoothly at the office or at home.

2. No more lethargy:

You will not feel lethargic and unwilling to complete the tedious tasks. Most people feel full and sleepy especially after the lunch. It will start to change as one eats healthier lunch in the right amounts. So, you can work faster and better and meet the deadlines and leave on time on most of the days.

3. Easier to say 'No' to the wrong things:

If you follow a healthy lifestyle then it becomes easier for you to say ‘No’ to the wrong things .So, you have to start saying 'No' to everything which have been bad for you. Slowly you will be able to inculcate this into your career too. This will push you towards what's good for you instead and you will be able to make a significant change for good.

4. More energy:

More energy means more motivation. Your level of energy will increase visibly due to your healthy lifestyle, making you more efficient. This means you can concentrate better at completing the tasks and stay motivated for long. We all know that motivation and energy rubs off so easily on others, so you will become an asset for the team and your company.

5. Better time management:

If you are having a healthy lifestyle then it becomes easier for you to manage your time, as you utilize most of your time well. Being healthy, eating good and exercising along with managing your day to day job can be a huge task. You need to get up early, cook your food to avoid the unhealthy stuff, fit in exercising along with other family responsibilities. Accomplishing all of these teaches you an important lesson in time management which will help you carrying out all your daily work responsibilities.

TAKEAWAY:

 Having a work life balance is very important because what you do at work and in life both are equally important. You need to take a closer look at what your day looks like and see what are the changes you need in order maintain the right balance between the work and the life. You can surely find many areas of opportunities that might not look like an immediate threat now, but might become so in the long run.         A healthy lifestyle will not just help improve your health, but also help improve your career too.