Tips For A Healthy Work-Life Balance
5.5 min read
If you work in hospitality, you most likely don’t conform to the 9-5 working day or even standard 40 hr work week.
I love this industry so much and can’t think of doing anything else, but it can seem like an impossible feat to achieve a work-life balance when work is your life.
Especially for restaurateurs or those who own their own business, the temptation to work around the clock when you're doing something you love is a feeling I am sure you know all too well.
24/7 access to emails makes it even harder to switch off and unwind from the daily grind.
No matter what job you do, it’s important to take time out to recharge the batteries.
The last thing you want is for the stress to build up so much that you burn out and throw in the towel.
Unfortunately, in hospitality, the mentality used to be that if you wanted to get to the top, you had to work gruelling hours… Taking time off was never an option.
If you cut or burnt yourself, you had to suck it up, get right back to work and take it as character-building when the head chef was having a bad day.
Thank god things have changed for the better.
At our HQ, we’ve got a ping pong table and I encourage my staff to get up from their desks and have a game. During winter, the team gets together each week for group exercise sessions to release some steam.
Last year the lovely Danielle Alvarez, head chef at Fred’s joined us on The Inspired Series panel and had some really important things to say about work-life balance in the industry.
“There’s been a shift in conversation where the ‘working yourself to the bone’ model is changing,” Danielle said.
She had never thought about throwing in the towel but believes taking a holiday, doing exercise, eating well and socialising outside work is a necessity for keeping healthy, being happy and excited to go to work every day.
“It’s good to take a break so you can regain your energy. There’s nothing wrong with taking a step back if you need time out, but if you love what you do, you should keep going,” she said.
With mental health issues on the rise, it’s important now more than ever to make sure you’ve got a good work/life balance that works for you.
Your employer should also be on board and adapt to your needs (obviously to a reasonable extent), whether it’s more flexible work hours so you can spend more time with family or study while you work.
It’s so important to have something outside of work that makes you happy, lets you clear your mind and feel refreshed.
I like setting the goal of making sure I move each day. Whether it’s a bike ride, run or dip in the ocean in the morning, I love starting the day with some exercise. It helps to clear my head and sets me up for a great day ahead.
If you’re finding it hard to make time for yourself in the day, start small. Here are a few tips you can try:
Prioritise your time – it’s an easy and very effective way of managing your time. It also ensures you don’t work overtime and leave on time.
Get enough sleep – we can easily forget how important a good night’s sleep is for us to function optimally the next day. Try get in 7-9 hours each night.
Eat healthily and exercise – A healthy body means a healthy mind and exercise is a great stress-buster.
Minimise screen time – try not to mindlessly scroll on social media and try turning your phone off (or at least on silent and not on vibrate) before going to bed. If you use your phone as an alarm clock, get a separate alarm clock instead.
Ask for help – if you’re working to your max but still feel stressed, delegate if you can or ask someone to help you out until you find your groove again.
However you decide to do it, achieving a work-life balance that works for you is an essential ingredient to a good life and a successful career.