The key is to keep a good balance between the different parts of your life: you must not put all your eggs in the same basket! You have to work on your professional life, but also on your family life, your friendships, your hobbies, your personal life… That way, when one of the baskets gets a little empty, you always have the others to fall back on!
It is important to be physically active, even if only slightly: for example, walking to the last station to go to work rather than taking the metro, and the same goes for the return journey. This gives us a break to relax before going from one environment to the other (from or to home or work).
It is good to take micro breaks during the day to relax your muscles.
It is important to laugh in the workplace, to take the time to say hello, to get to know your colleagues, to talk, to have lunch together, etc. Even if you feel like you are drowning in work, you must not isolate yourself.
It is also important to learn how to manage your time well, by trying, for example, to set aside time slots to deal with \“parasitic\” calls and emails. Outside of these time slots, you should stay focused on your original objective for the day and not allow yourself to be distracted. It is rare that there are any real vital emergencies at work; there are mostly people in a hurry… You have to get organised, schedule, plan, motivate yourself, identify time-wasting situations and avoid them, list the tasks by level of urgency and importance.
Be careful to keep time for yourself, learn to disconnect, not to get your professional entourage used to you answering whenever, evenings and weekends included, check your emails at specific times, delete the alerts as soon as messages arrive, etc.
Don’t forget to communicate well at work, to share your requests and criticisms, don’t wait for the unspoken words and frustrations to build up.
And of course, take time for your significant other, your family and your personal life, think about yourself, about what really matters in your life, about your values, don’t set them aside as you work.
Finally, remember the wise words of Confucius: \“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life. \”.