4 Ways to Protect Your Work-Life Balance (This Year)

These four tactics can help you develop better work-life balance habits this year.

1. Have an open dialogue with your supervisor and colleagues.

A new year can be a good time for a reset - both outside the office and at work. If you're trying to shift the balance closer to "life" and away from "work," talk to your supervisor to let them know you want to make some adjustments.

Above all, make sure they understand why this is important to you and that you are willing to do whatever it takes to make sure your job duties are not affected. Position it as something that will make you better at work - because it will make you more rested, happier and less angry.

It's also a good idea to discuss this with colleagues you work closely with, especially if they tend to make unreasonable demands on you. Have an open conversation about what works and what doesn't: the last thing you want is for your boss or colleagues to secretly disapprove of you.

2. Show your limits

As part of the conversation with the team, it's a good idea to suggest new boundaries that you think will be most effective.

For example, if you want to work out during the lunch hour, ask your team not to schedule meetings during that hour if possible. Maybe you want to be more involved with your family in the evening: Let them know that you won't respond to emails after a certain time (but that you'll be available by phone if it's something really urgent).

Remember to maintain a certain amount of flexibility: If any of the new boundaries are negatively impacting your work or the team's performance, it's your responsibility to recognize this and adjust accordingly.

3. Avoid a sad lunch at your desk.

Regardless of how busy you are, the habit of eating lunch at your desk can lead to lower productivity because your brain doesn't get the break it needs to continue working at a high level. You might also think that skipping lunch means you'll finish earlier in the evening, but researchers have found that taking a lunch break actually increases brain power.

What's more, eating at your desk can be detrimental to your health and negate the positive effects of healthy initiatives you undertake outside of work. Even more alarming, lack of exercise and long work hours can increase your risk of heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes.

Plus, lunch can be a great way to spend more time getting to know your colleagues. Not only can this be fun, but it can also benefit your career by helping to expand your network.

4. Get involved in a new hobby.

It can be easy to promise yourself a better work-life balance, but not maintain it when you're busy. Committing to a hobby is one way around this, as it structures what "balance" actually means.

Maybe you sign up for language classes or join a book club. Your hobby can be anything you're interested in and that makes you happy - as long as it commits you to putting in some free time each week.