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Everyone strives to maintain that perfect work-life balance. Having a fulfilling career and healthy home life is a tough combination to achieve, but if you learn how to manage your time well, it can be one. Here are five time-management hacks to keep your work/life balance in check.

Have a Realistic Schedule

Setting a schedule the night before is a classic trick that is entirely effective. A to-do list allows you to cross off the things you have accomplished and gives you a sense of gratification. It also is a great motivator to keep completing tasks until you have finished everything for the day. The key is to be realistic about what you can accomplish. Don’t jam your schedule leaving little to no room for breaks or downtime. This will do the opposite of helping you maintain a solid work/life balance.

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Break Tasks Up

It can be so overwhelming to look at a huge task you need to do if you don’t break it down into smaller tasks. Instead of trying to clean your entire home in one day, clean different areas of your home on different days. This way, you won’t be overwhelmed by these larger projects and you can actually finish them on time.

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Schedule “Me Time”

If you are constantly working and always on your phone or laptop, there is a good chance you are not relaxing or giving yourself a much-needed break. When you get home from work, put your phone away and revel in some “me time.” Do something to unwind and disconnect from work completely. Take a bath, read a book, watch TV or exercise. Just do something that will help slow your mind down and create a degree of separation between your work and home life. This is one of the most important hacks to maintain a healthy balance.

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Determine Your Peak Hours

Are you typically up before the sun or staying away until 2 am? Knowing what time you operate the best at will help you schedule your most tedious and important tasks at this time. If you are a morning person, perform your tasks the require the most focus in the morning. You can use the afternoon or night to do repetitive tasks like making calls or catching up on emails. You may discover that what usually takes you an hour to do in the afternoon only takes you thirty minutes to do in the morning.

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Boost Productivity

Two of the biggest things we neglect are sleep and exercise – two things that can actually significantly improve your productivity. Studies and research have proved that exercise can help keep you alert, making it much easier to accomplish tasks. Of course, getting enough sleep and getting in short naps throughout the day can do amazing things for your mental health and helps you from feeling fatigued and burnt out. If you are more productive at work, you can get home earlier from work and have more time for yourself.

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