It's the end of another day. I should have left at 6pm but it's going on 8pm and I've only just started packing up.

Sound familiar?

Hundreds of thousands of people around the world work unpaid overtime every week. A lot of people I know rarely take lunch and think that leaving work on time is more of a luxury.

Me? Sometimes I'll work a little overtime - but not regularly. I always take my lunch and I use all of my annual leave each year. I'm not trying to be a pain to my employer, all I'm trying to do is stick to a certain something we've all heard about - ‘work life balance'.

I appreciate there are a lot of jobs where an employer will expect more than what is stipulated in the contract. My friend, for example, works for ABN AMRO and employees there are expected to work overtime. He often works until late at night when I'm sleeping. They don't require it but anyone who doesn't do it will be frowned upon.

But that shouldn't be the case.

Here at TheJobCart, we often receive articles about people wanting more time for themselves. They want a better ‘work life balance'. And why shouldn't they?

Here's my thoughts on ways to slowly, but surely, claw back a life outside of the office.

Update your manager early and often

I make sure that my manager knows what I'm doing with a quick daily update. I tell him what I've planned for the week and where my time is allocated. If things are taking longer than expected - he is the first person to know (after me, of course!).

By keeping him up-to-date and included on my time allocation, he knows (a) I'm not wasting time (b) I'm progressing projects to the best of my ability and (c) when projects are running over schedule.

If they are taking longer than expected, he can perhaps help but giving me a shortcut, help reallocate resources in the team or extend the time lines where possible.

Set realistic deadlines

Whenever I'm advising clients or my manager about potential completion times, I stick to the mantra that you should always ‘under promise and over deliver'. I would prefer to spend the time explaining why something will take 2 weeks and deliver it a day early, as opposed to promise it will be done in 5 days then deliver the product late.

Clients and managers appreciate honesty and should appreciate that you have other things to do. They also appreciate it when you deliver early - so give yourself some breathing space.

Take lunch

I know - it's easy to skip. I catch myself time and time again accidentally working through lunch to get something out. But, 10 minutes in a bit of fresh air or just away from the desk can do wonders. Studies have shown that working through lunch (eating or not) actually reduces your work capacity later in the day.

So there's no argument for working through lunch unless you have an ultra tight deadline. Take 10 minutes. Your eyes will thank you, your body will thank you and your work will get done a lot quicker in the afternoon.

For a great lunch I'd suggest heading to the park or an open space with a light lunch.

Well, I hope that's helped. Achieving a work life balance is really important for your health and your overall enjoyment of your career so I hope you manage to get there ... soon. However I appreciate it can be a little more difficult in some industries. Good luck, take care and don't forget those lunches.

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