1,600 — that’s the average number of hours spent working each year. When you spend a third of your day at the office, it’s no surprise that work sometimes spills over into your personal life. Of course, being committed at work is important — but so is your personal life. To protect it, it’s essential to find the right balance. So how can you successfully juggle work and personal life?

Why balancing work and personal life is essential

Work takes up a significant part of your life, as it occupies most of your day. Yet, it’s crucial to strike the right balance between your job and your personal well-being.

Protecting your mental health

When work excessively encroaches on your personal life, it raises the risk of stress, anxiety, and even depression or burnout. According to France’s Health Monitoring Institute (Haute Autorité de Santé), nearly 500,000 employees suffer from work-related psychological distress.

Protecting your physical health

Spending most of your time working often means sitting for long hours, getting little fresh air, and moving very little. By reserving time for your personal life, you create space for physical activity — like exercising, walking outdoors, or cooking healthy meals.

Boosting productivity

Lack of sleep and an absence of social life can seriously affect your motivation. Working long hours without breaks — skipping social outings or time with family to keep working — isn’t efficient. In fact, it can harm your productivity. On average, adults can maintain deep concentration for about 90 minutes, of which only 25 minutes are at peak focus.

3 Professional Habits to Help You Balance Better

1. Set Clear Boundaries (Even with Yourself)

The golden rule is to establish clear boundaries. For example, block out times on your calendar when you’re unavailable, and share that with your team. That way, your colleagues will know you’re available Mondays from 8:30 AM to 7:00 PM, but unreachable after 5:30 PM on Tuesdays because you pick up your kids and help with homework.

Occasional overtime may be necessary, but it shouldn’t become the norm. Be clear about your working hours and insist on compensating for any extra time you put in.

Setting boundaries with others is one thing — sticking to them yourself is often harder. If you’ve planned to leave at 6:00 PM for a family evening but end up lingering until 6:45 “to get ahead,” it’s time to rethink. Moments with loved ones are good for your morale. Plus, your concentration naturally drops in the evening. Respect your personal commitments just like you do your professional ones!

2. Make the Most of Your Work Hours

You probably already know: concentration is a limited resource. Staring at an Excel sheet for five hours doesn’t mean you’ve worked effectively for five hours. Instead of pushing through, try to work smarter. For instance, schedule tasks that require deep focus in the morning between 9:00 and 11:00 AM, or early afternoon between 1:00 and 3:00 PM — peak concentration times according to a 2020 study by German, Spanish, and Australian researchers.

3. Clearly Define Your Workspace

For many of us, remote work is now a regular part of life. Longer sleep, no commuting, less stress, more comfort — working from home has its perks. But it can also blur the line between work and personal life. That’s why it’s crucial to set clear boundaries in both space and time when working remotely.

If possible, designate a specific work area. No work calls from the couch or checking emails in the kitchen — these areas should remain for your personal life. Don’t underestimate the importance of breaks either. Just because you’re working from home doesn’t mean you don’t need downtime. A lunch break should be exactly that — not a time to multitask laundry, emails, and eating.

3 Personal Habits to Reinforce Balance

1. Make Personal Time a Ritual

By setting regular personal appointments, you turn them into habits that are harder to break. Thursday night swim class, Friday night family dinner, or picking up your kids every Monday after school — these become fixed parts of your week. Eventually, they’ll feel essential and even act as rewards after a productive workday.

2. Take Time for Yourself

When you’re deeply involved in your work, it’s easy to let it consume your life. But that doesn’t make you more effective — and it’s bad for your well-being. You need time just for you. Go for a run on your lunch break, join the local theater club, learn to paint, play volleyball — the possibilities are endless. What matters most is carving out time to rest and enjoy non-work activities.

3. Take Real Vacations

We often look forward to vacations, but they don’t always mean true rest. During your time off, make a clean break from work: no Zoom calls between family meals, no responding to emails on the beach, and no business phone during family outings. Yes, productivity is important — but so is rest. In fact, rest fuels productivity. Disconnect fully, enjoy the present with your loved ones, and you’ll return to work refreshed and motivated.

Balancing professional and personal life is essential for your mental and physical health, and for staying motivated at work. Both worlds matter — and they complement each other. But work should never take over your personal life. It’s up to you to keep that balance in check, so you can thrive in both areas.