How to have a life outside of work
Have you ever thought, surely there has to be more to life than work. In the current COVID climate, it isn’t as easy to have a life outside of work compared to 3 years ago. People interact less in person. Everyone is obsessed with their electronic devices and people take less time to really check in on others.
However, you can have a life outside of work even if you spend most of your time at home (working). A solo hobby isn’t less significant than spending time with others. Of course, you can have a life outside of work with others, but it might take some effort on your part.
Consider these tips to have more ‘you’ time:
- Free up your time. One of the obstacles most people face when attempting to create an active and fulfilling life outside of work is time. However, they’ are just too busy to get out of the house. Or they feel so overwhelmed by their lives they can’t quite seem to work up the mental energy to interact with the world any more than they already are. Make time for what really matters to you.
- Follow your interests. What do you like to do? What interests you? You’ve already put in a hard day at work, so it’s time to enjoy yourself.
Forget about impressing others. How do you want to spend your free time? Do you want to go dancing? Or would you rather play cards? Maybe you’d like to learn to ride a motorcycle or become a black belt in karate. Avoid the urge to just be social. You can be social while doing something you love. Or, maybe you like spending time by yourself but want to do it in a more meaningful way. - Be likeable. If you want to do more things with people, work on being more likeable. That doesn’t mean you have to give your personality a complete makeover, but everyone has a few traits that could use a little polishing. If people like you, they’ll want to include you in more activities. If you are unsure of what those traits are, that is where a coach can help identify areas to work on.
- Unplug! Stop wasting your time on the big timewasters: the internet, your phone, the TV, and video games. You can find other things to do that won’t leave you feeling empty and annoyed that you wasted so much time. Go for a walk, sit in a park and observe how ‘busy’ people are with their electronic devices and determine, are you one of those people too?
- Ask others to spend time with you outside of work. Be proactive and ask a few people to do things with you. Ask someone to go for a hike. Ask your coworkers out for a drink. Go shopping. Go out of town for the weekend.
There are a lot of bored people in the world that would love to get out of the house! - Reconnect with old friends. It’s common to lose track of your friends over the years, even friends that live close by. No one ever said that you can only speak to them once a year. Pick up the phone and reach out to them.
If you are concerned about catching COVID, you can even meet for a Zoom chat and share your lives or play a game together online.
- Make a schedule. By the time you go to bed on Sunday night, try to have plans to do something outside of work at least once over the next week. Create plans and put them on your schedule.
We all know work is important, but it’s only one aspect of life. A balanced life includes meaningful activities and socializing outside of work.
There are still a lot of hours in the day after subtracting work and sleep. How are you currently using those hours? How can you use that time in a more meaningful manner? You can start building a wonderful life outside of work that brings you greater fulfillment, joy, and life satisfaction.
