In today’s world, it’s challenging to strike a balance in our lives. It always feels like there’s not enough time in the day, and work dominates most of that time. But what if there were ways to address that imbalance? Keep reading to find out more.
Work/Life Balance
Completing personal chores alongside work and studies has always been a daunting task. According to Karmali (2025) writing for Moodle, 66% of employees in the US are reported to be burned out of their professions, which hit record tallies. And, almost 85% of employees reported being mentally strained from their work, 50% of whom were on sick leave for mental health reasons.
In most cases, these pressures are terrible for health care professionals, who often have long, tense, and emotional hours with great responsibility. More than half of healthcare professionals in the US showed an inclination to quit their jobs within a year (Roy, 2025). In the UK, 41.63% of NHS staff have felt unwell as a result of workplace stress, according to the recent NHS Staff Survey (2025).
The reason is extreme burnout and no available remedial care for support. The outcomes suggest that the nature of stress and tactics to counterbalance and recover from stress are deficient.
Embracing these burdens of work and the chains attached to them does not necessarily mean surrendering to failure. Stress and failure are most often symptoms of thinking too narrowly, and recognising the scope of the issue helps provide a wider view to work on solutions. Balancing and mentally containing multiple layers and commitments is accepting support from both personal and work circles.
It’s also important to remember that work/life balance isn’t about making things 50/50 (Mental Health Foundation, n.d.). A healthy work/life balance will mean different things to different people, as we’re not all alike. However, this can also be part of the problem, as we need to find the right balance for us as individuals.
Finding Balance: Recognising Signs Of Burnout And Stress
Burnout goes beyond the sensation of exhaustion after work; it is emotional depletion, lowered efficiency, disconnection, headaches, and insomnia, the list can go on.
Emotional and physical exhaustion
This is the feeling of being completely depleted of energy, both physically and mentally. It goes beyond normal tiredness and doesn’t dissipate with a few days off. When I’ve become burnt out, it took me months to be back to how I used to be.
Persistent fatigue
We can feel consistently drained and weary almost every day, regardless of how much we sleep. It’s a chronic, nonspecific fog that can weigh us down.
Physical ailments
Stress hormones can manifest as physical issues, a maladaptive response to stress by our bodies (Chu, Marwaha, Sanvictores, Awosika, and Ayers, 2024). Look for frequent headaches, stomach or bowel problems (gastrointestinal upset), muscle tension, and a lowered immune system leading to frequent illnesses. Long bouts of stress can cause us to feel like we’re always getting a cold or have a cold that doesn’t want to go away.
Sleep disturbances
Our sleep habits change, often presenting as insomnia (trouble falling or staying asleep) or, conversely, feeling the need to sleep excessively without ever feeling rested.
Reduced self-care
We have a tendency to stop engaging in self-care the worse we feel, which can be a problem, as that might be what’s needed. This is because we experience a lack of energy or motivation to maintain a healthy diet, exercise, or engage in hobbies we typically enjoy.
Cynicism and negativism
There’s a possibility that we may develop an apathetic or detached attitude, feeling that our work has lost its meaning or value. We may become easily irritated or angry with co-workers or clients. This is a sign our mental wellbeing isn’t doing so well.
Loss of enthusiasm
We may no longer be excited, engaged, or invested in tasks that we once found motivating and inspiring. Every day just feels like a “bad day”. A classic sign of chronic stress and burnout.
Detachment
We may feel emotionally numb or detached, questioning the motives of our company and feeling isolated from the people around us.
Procrastination
We may start avoiding certain tasks or take longer to get things done because of a lack of mental energy to engage.
Reduced professional efficacy
If we feel that we’re struggling, then this can cause a decline in our feelings of competence and achievement at work, resulting in a sense of failure. AKA, impostor syndrome.
Building A System To Create Balance
Finding balance while advancing our careers is a continuous process that involves setting clear priorities and establishing healthy boundaries to prevent burnout. The goal isn’t to perfectly divide time, but to feel satisfied and engaged in both our professional and personal lives.
Social support network
Building a network of colleagues, friends, and mentors who can offer advice and support makes challenging times easier to manage. A social support network like this helps us to gain balance in our lives. Social relationships offer help in enhancing psychological energy during exhausting periods, offering emotional support, constructive advice, and practical assistance.
A social support network can be vital for people in education, as it allows them to work and connect with fellow students. This enables a network of collaboration, discussion, and shared intensive problem-solving. This can make it easier for students to continue studying intensely without disregarding their mental wellbeing.
Support systems are not only about professional relationships. Friends, family, and various organisations also help with emotional wellbeing. Open and honest discussions about stress, proactive steps about stress, and goal setting help build a resilient stress-coping foundation.
Furthermore, establishing any social support network also needs to be based on mutual cooperation. Providing help to peers and associates not only helps build relationships but also creates a sense of belonging and purpose. When we assist others, we also help to personally deal with stress, and that has the potential to minimise the isolation.
Attempting to improve one’s mental and emotional state while also climbing the corporate ladder is certainly not an easy task. It is a long-term self-reflection, with purposeful steps, and a well-defined strategy. Recognising the symptoms of burnout, and the formation of routines that improve mental wellbeing, along with adequate social connections, leads to stress freedom without mental health compromise.
Safe space
We all need a safe space. Being able to provide that safe space to our social support network helps us all. Sometimes, just knowing that someone is willing to listen without judgment is often far more relaxing than any practice or routine that has been formulated to achieve that purpose.
Envision and align our goals
Solidify both our professional and personal goals. Career advancement should align with our desired overall lifestyle, rather than conflicting with it. This can help with motivation and allow us to understand what new skills, experiences, and abilities we need to develop to achieve our goals (Gibson, 2023). Remember, personal development can also enhance our effectiveness at work.
Determine our career path
Having a basic understanding of what advancement means for us (e.g., promotion, acquiring new skills, or a lateral move) makes it easier to work toward an end state that aligns with our desired lifestyle (Coursera, 2025). Thus, align our career goals with our wants and needs in life. For me, it’s about being able to help others, so promotions don’t interest me. But learning new skills does.
Boundaries
Set and communicate clear boundaries. Establish work hours by defining specific start and end times for our workday and communicating them to colleagues (NOLA Management Group Inc., 2024). It can help to add an end-of-work routine here so it’s easier to switch off at the end of the workday. That will hopefully make it easier to refrain from checking work messages and emails outside of these hours. If working from home, having a designated work area can also help separate work time from our personal time.
Learn to say “no”
Prioritise tasks and be selective about new commitments to avoid overworking and overcommitting, which can and will lead to burnout. Saying “no” is a life skill, and we often believe that saying “yes” makes us a good person and a helpful colleague. But being a good person isn’t about always saying “yes”. We can also do more by not overloading ourselves because it’ll reduce our stress and risks of burnout. That’s how we can find our sense of balance.
Master time and energy management
Prioritise tasks; otherwise, we can find ourselves doing the wrong things and then finding ourselves in a panic trying to get the things that need to be done, done on time. This is a classic issue with procrastination, where we can procrastinate about one task but do other tasks because it feels like we’re being productive. Creating a to-do list with a priority element can be an easy way to get started with this.
Schedule breaks
Being productive doesn’t mean working ourselves until we’re exhausted. Schedule time for breaks during work, chores, and for our personal life, hobbies, physical activity, and social connections, just as we would for work meetings. We have annual leave for a reason, and we shouldn’t be working for free by working over our contracted hours. Again, this will help us find balance, but also help us with being productive.
Prioritise self-care
Regular exercise, a balanced diet, and sufficient sleep are vital. Schedule regular moments for mental check-ins, such as journaling or meditation. We don’t need to hit the gym to get regular exercise; going for regular walks, especially if we do Japanese interval walking, will do the same trick.
Reflect and adjust
A good, robust anti-stress and burnout prevention strategy also requires continuous evaluation. Regularly reflect on our current work/life balance. Ask ourselves if we are spending enough quality time on meaningful things and if our actions still align with our goals. Make adjustments as needed, and switch out self-care activities that aren’t working or are seeing a diminished return. Variety is the spice of life for a reason. This also makes for a good journaling task.
Seek career advice
A lot of places offer free career advice, such as our place of education, job centres, and even some places of employment. Even finding a professional coach or mentor who has successfully managed career advancement while maintaining balance can provide personalised strategies for us to use.
Motivational factors
Working out what our motivational factors are can help us stay on track. It’s easy to come up with a plan for what we want for ourselves, but it’s really hard to stick to that plan, as that requires so much time and effort. Working out our motivational factors can help us with that.
Training
If possible, attend and spend time on the training offered by our places of work. We can also benefit from training in time management, planning, and resilience development tools. With a combination of targeted training, it is possible to enhance our wellbeing while also helping with career development and a good work/life balance.
Creating A Daily Routine That Supports Mental Health And Balance
Daily mental health is achievable with a consistent daily schedule, which research shows is the most reliable way to relieve stress and avoid anxiety (Li et al., 2022). It is incredible how mental health is boosted with taking small breaks, practising mindfulness, engaging in intentional movement, and even taking walks.
Even something as simple as standing and stretching, taking some deep breaths, or walking for one minute can boost our mood. Mindful eating is another easy thing we can add to our daily lives.
Moreover, optimising our overall productivity by listening to our body rhythm patterns is beneficial. Some of us are morning people, while others prefer working at night. Flexing our natural body rhythm aligns fulfilling activities with our peak hours while scheduling low-level activities to our lower energy hours. Thus, we’re able to get the most out of ourselves with just a few adjustments.
Summary
Recognising the signs of burnout and chronic stress is the critical first step toward restoring our work/life balance. By integrating deliberate choices about our time, health, and boundaries, we can effectively pursue our career goals without sacrificing our wellbeing.
As always, leave your feedback in the comments section below. Also, please share your experiences with finding balance while advancing your career in the comments section below as well. Don’t forget, if you want to stay up-to-date with my blog, you can sign up for my newsletter below. Alternatively, click the red bell icon in the bottom right corner to get push notifications for new articles.
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References
Chu, B., Marwaha, K., Sanvictores, T., Awosika, A. O., & Ayers, D. (2024). Physiology, stress reaction. In StatPearls [Internet]. StatPearls Publishing. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK541120.
Coursera (2025, June). How can you advance your career? growth guide and tips. Coursera. Retrieved from https://www.coursera.org/articles/career-advancement.
Gibson, K. (2023, April). How to Jumpstart Your Career Advancement. Harvard Business School Online’s Business Insights Blog. Retrieved from https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/career-advancement-opportunities.
Karmali, M. (2025). Over half of American employees have used AI to take workplace training, according to new data. Moodle. Retrieved from https://moodle.com/us/news/ai-for-workplace-training-in-america.
Li, T. W., Liang, L., Ho, P. L., Yeung, E. T. F., Hobfoll, S. E., & Hou, W. K. (2022). Coping resources mediate the prospective associations between disrupted daily routines and persistent psychiatric symptoms: A population-based cohort study. Journal of psychiatric research, 152, 260–268. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2022.05.033 and https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9127352.
Mental Health Foundation. (n.d.). Work-life balance. Mental Health Foundation. Retrieved from https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/explore-mental-health/a-z-topics/work-life-balance.
NHS Staff Survey. (2025, March). NHS Staff Survey 2024: National results briefing. NHS Staff Survey. Retrieved from https://www.nhsstaffsurveys.com/static/c1a573e95b1a49428676ef4b24f5efe7/National-Results-Briefing-2024.pdf.
NOLA Management Group Inc. (2024, December). Tips for maintaining a healthy work-life balance while pursuing career goals. NOLA Management Group Inc. Retrieved from https://nolamanagementgroup.com/blogs/news/1300429-tips-for-maintaining-a-healthy-work-life-balance-while-pursuing-career-goals.
Roy, M. (2025). Over half of US healthcare workers plan to switch jobs by next year, survey finds. Reuters. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/over-half-us-healthcare-workers-plan-switch-jobs-by-next-year-survey-finds-2025-09-15.