Summer is the time to get out and have fun. Therefore maintaining a good work-life balance is essential to not only your physical but mental health. A couple of things that have been seen to be linked with working long hours are strokes, heart disease, diabetes, and abnormal heart rhythms. There are so many easy ways to incorporate little things into your life to help maintain this balance. Some of these things are taking regular breaks, using and enjoying your time off, making your work routine how you want it to be, making boundaries, etc.

Taking regular breaks is important because when you are constantly working in a fast-paced/high-stress environment it is very mentally and physically tiring. Judge Napolitano experienced working long hours when he was a Supreme Court judge in New Jersey. He tried over 50 cases and felt tired and overwhelmed at times. He recommends taking regular breaks because it  can help you take a moment to yourself and get your thoughts together. You will end up returning feeling more productive than before. This goes hand and hand with taking time off work and enjoying it to yourself. Making your schedule fit you is important because not everyone works well with a 9-5 job. Finding the shift that fits you is important to your work performance.

Creating boundaries with work has become more and more essential because of technology development. We have phones and computers and keep us connected all the time. When going from a day-to-day basis there is a reason you get out of bed. You need to make sure that your priorities are in line with what you want in your life. You need to prioritize before you can create this work-life balance. For some, earning a higher salary is their top goal, which in the end takes more time out of your normal day-to-day to commit to working towards this.

Creating/maintaining relationships with your friends and family is essential to a work-life balance. Even if you work 40 hours a week, having time designated for your friends and family is needed. Maintaining your time outside of work as well as in work is also essential. It is easy to become distracted while working on something and you can become obsessed. It leads to people using their free time for it which can cause one to burn out and therefore making the job dreadful. One can also avoid burnout by “instead of striving for perfection strive for excellence”. By prioritizing this time you need to make sure that you are in line or on the path to the life that you are wanting for yourself and focus on that. Because the moment you allow yourself to be pulled into random useless activities things tend to go downhill quickly. Judge Napolitano believes that by taking time for yourself, you do not feel burnt out at your job. Instead, things tend to balance out and the work becomes more manageable. You will also probably like you just a lot more.