We all hear about the importance of not overworking ourselves and avoiding burnout. With that in mind, it’s worth considering ways to achieve a healthy work/life balance.

First: We need to understand that our work and personal lives are not in conflict with each other. Usually, the amount of time spent doing one or the other is the focus of the term “work/life balance,” but that doesn’t take into account what we do with our work/life once we figure out a good balance of these two parts of the human experience.

The fact is: The more personal time someone has outside of work doesn’t necessarily correlate with direct happiness/success at work, and vice versa. So, for the sake of argument, we’re going to disregard the work-life balance as a quantitative term, measured by time, and focus more on the qualitative aspect.

Specifically, I want to focus on health and wellness as a correlation of happiness in and outside of work instead.

As a Quick Disclaimer

Naturally, what health and wellness looks like to one person is not what health and wellness looks like to everyone else.

For instance, some people have extenuating circumstances that prevent them from, say, going to the gym for weight training. That’s perfectly fine! There are a myriad of ways to work on one’s physical health, and, just as we encourage our clients to “Find Your Path,” so too do we encourage our readers to find the path that works for them — be it walks in the park, swimming or making the effort to sit outside a few times a day for that Vitamin D.

I’ll touch on finding what works for you a bit later on!

Why Physical Health?

So, this blog was actually inspired by one of our IT interns, Carter Lye, who undeniably loves life and lives each moment to its fullest. He’s young, in good shape and always has a smile on his face anytime I see him in a professional or personal setting.

Naturally, I prodded: I asked why he’s so happy all the time. He attributes a big part of his joy coming from his focus on self-care — specifically centered around physical fitness. He says that a downstream effect of focusing on fitness is that it feels easier to manage so many things because he takes care of himself.

He also likes the prospect of living longer, so who can argue with that!

As I started digging around on the topic of a healthy work-life balance, I noticed that there’s a lot of discussion on the topic of the work-life “fitness” balance, and the fact that many employees who seem to have an active personal lifestyle actually seem to enjoy their time at work more, too.

How can that be?

Research by Forbes on this topic shows that the more physically fit an individual might be, the more direct benefits they achieve in life such as personal level of confidence, better mental health, more energy for accomplishing demanding work tasks, reduced stress, lower levels of depression and a greater sense of having a more positive outlook on life.

Find Your Path!

You’ll see this quote smeared across most of our latest marketing material, and for a very good reason. There is not a “one-size fits all” path to success with our clients here at InterWorks. Each client will have their own IT and data needs, and the paths to get each of them to their desired outcomes is going to be different from client to client and from project to project. Our team will help to carve custom paths that get each of our clients to their desired destination in the quickest, most efficient and cost-effective means possible.

The same holds true when you are thinking about physical health and accomplishing your own personal levels of activity: There’s not a singular, one-way approach that equates to health and physical wellness. There are unlimited paths to success. Typically, it’s about getting started with achievable goals along with a combination of enjoyable and challenging exercises/activities that can be worked into a regular routine.

Just Do It! (Things You Find Fun)

For some, that might mean weight or body resistance exercises, or perhaps participating in a sport like running, rowing, cycling, etc. It’s all about finding a path that works. Don’t overcomplicate it. Remember that exercise is for everyone. You don’t have to be an athlete. No matter your age, body type, current state of your health — there are hundreds of potential exercises that you can do to get started.

For gym inspiration, if that’s your cup of tea, you can go to this website in order to get some suggested workout ideas.

For me, I enjoy high-intensity interval training. It’s even more enjoyable for me when done in a social setting. I like to chat and struggle and share with others while in the heat of action. Others like some good music to listen to while on their favorite cardio or weight machines. The possibilities are endless.

No matter where you find yourself today, if you need a starting point, I urge you to find time to simply go outside. If you’re so inclined, try to include a 20 minute walk.

Even starting there, you’re going to feel an immediate payoff in terms of better sleep. When we wake up feeling tired or already fatigued due to work/diet/lack of sleep/stress, that spills over to everything else including our physical and mental well-being.

Based on a study by Harvard, getting more rest will ultimately help with both your mind and your mood. That means with better rest and finding fun in fitness, you’ve got an equation that always turns out positive.

It’s like an ABS-olute value formula for life.

Hopefully, this helps to inspire you to take your first step whatever that looks like. And, of course, we’d love to hear some of your favorite fitness plans as well!