How to strike that perfect work-life balance

Work can include long hours and dreadfully longer days, but what you do after they're over has an impact on your everyday life. Here are some helpful tips to become more productive and successful during the work week

Depending on your work hours, you might feel you deserve a quick nap after you get home from work in the evening. Rightfully so, a power nap might leave you refreshed and pumped up.

But if you're anything like the rest of the world, you will end up hitting that snooze button over and over again resulting in sleeping through the entire evening and feeling sluggish at bedtime having disturbed your entire sleep schedule.

Avoid the bed after a tiring work day, instead if you have errands to run, do them directly from work. Avoid coming home where you know you might get lazy.

While we insist on our children cleaning up after themselves, how many times have we stuck to this rule? In the haste of our morning routine, many a time we find clothes scattered, the kitchen a mess or beds left unmade. Soon as your home, make it a priority to tidy up.

Now we're not insisting on a full-on spring cleaning, but don't let the dishes pile up until dinner time or leave the clothes in the machine until tomorrow. Straighten up your home, this will keep you active and also help you feel a lot more organized and sorted out.

A lot of us wait for 'tomorrow' before we actually prep up for the work day ahead. Instead, plan (even if it's just in your head) on what your targets are for the next day. If you have children, you know the importance of preparing for the next day. How about, you do it for yourself too.

Don't just throw on anything you can find in the morning, take time to decide what you want to wear, keep work documents, meals and bags ready a night before. It will make your morning transition much smoother and help you sleep better at night thinking you've got yourself covered for the next day.

DIY projects are not only for the weekends, instead adopt something you really want to do and make it a point to inch towards it every day after work. It could be a stroll to the grocery store, a relaxing yoga session, a trip to the gym, game night with the boys, vibes with friends, a home decor project or even researching hairstyles on YouTube for the next day! Anything simple, that keeps you motivated is good enough.

This way you have something to look forward to after the work day is over. Try to make it a group project or activity so you can involve the rest of your family too making sure to spend quality time.

This one could not be emphasized more. Binging in any form after a long day at work is the unhealthiest thing you could do for your body and mind.

Binge watching your favourite show will leave you sloppy to do anything else and waste your entire evening. Instead, watch an episode a day, this way you have something to look forward to. Binge eating anything you can find after staying hungry all day because of work, will leave you feeling lethargic, sleepy and slow. Keep fruits at home as an after work snack, this way you stay on the move.

If you want to spend quality time with your friends or family it's important to plan. Look up something fun to do in the weekend.

Or why wait till the weekend, plan a movie night with friends for the next day and go for it. Don't let the weekend pass with nothing to do. Instead, look up different ways you can spend quality time with your family. For children, check out events happening near you. If shopping is your passion look up great deals and markets you can visit. If you only have work planned for the week ahead, you're going to get weary and unmotivated eventually.

To avoid feeling sleepy and overdosing on caffeine through the day, make sure to get a good night sleep. If you have trouble sleeping, get your body tired by going to the gym. Your body will eventually get used to this routine and you will fall asleep smoothly.

Stick to a strict time for bed and keep away all gadgets and distractions after that time. Your body needs to recuperate for the next day. Don't make it so, that your day is over after work. Your job is only one facet of your life, you still have other roles and responsibilities like being an awesome friend, a caring dad/mom, a loving partner and most importantly a balanced successful person.  

- Sanobar Mistry is a published journalist and currently a teacher in Dubai.