As a private practitioner, you devote your career to helping other people. But the nature of therapeutic work can make it physically and psychologically exhausting, which is why taking steps to maintain a positive work-life balance is so important!

If you’re looking at keeping the equilibrium between your professional and personal life, here are some tips so you can have energy in both, without feeling overwhelmed.

Create Your Own Work Day

It’s easy to feel like you have to work 9-5 even if you’re self-employed. But remember, you don’t have to work traditional hours. If you’re a night owl, start your day later and work later. Chances are, your clients would probably love the flexibility of getting appointments outside of their working hours.

Just make sure that you’re working to your best times, and the way you want to, so you’re less likely to have that ‘dragging’ feeling, which seeps into the rest of your day. Plus, it makes your work life more enjoyable when you’re doing what’s best for you.

Take a Break Between Clients

The intensity of your work, alongside a high volume of appointments, can make it difficult for you to take any kind of meaningful break. It’s therefore important to schedule breaks between sessions, allowing you to refresh your mind, recharge your energy, and prepare for the next client. Don’t fall into the trap of overbooking or using your spare time to catch up on more work; take 5 minutes before each client to centre yourself. You’ll be surprised how far five minutes can go in creating a positive work-life balance!

Practice Self-Care

Now, I know what you’re thinking, “I don’t have time for self-care,” but self-care isn’t all about taking a spa day or going on holiday. It’s the little things too. Your general wellness is crucial to sustaining professional success; after all, how do you expect to take care of others if you can’t take care of yourself?

The definition of self-care is actually much more broad and includes anything that promotes your well-being and doing something for you. This might be as simple as going for a walk, taking a long bath, or reading a good book in the sunshine.

Make sure you stick to this by setting an appointment for self-care in your calendar, like you would for any other client. And use this time for you, and you alone. When you’re not doing this, try to make sure you do at least one thing positive each day. This ‘thing’ can be work related too, but mindfulness is a deliberate way of improving mental health and striving toward the perfect work-life balance.

Use Your Support Network

The constant support of your friends, colleagues, and family members helps to alleviate the pressure of your work. We’re often reluctant to reach out to our networks for fear of being a burden, but rest assured that your team is always on your side and ready to lend a sympathetic ear when you need it.

Friends can be a welcomed break and sounding board which turns your day from work-related to fun. Helping you to achieve this balance.

Keep Your Home, Your Home

If you have an office, use it! Treat your home like a sanctuary and don’t let work in so that you can mentally switch off when you physically walk through the door. If however, like many others, you work from home, you can still adapt this by creating a dedicated work space in your home. Convert a bedroom or even have a desk area, and put up a divider. Don’t ‘live’ at your desk, and don’t work in the other areas of your home. This helps you keep the balance and it won’t feel so all-consuming all the time.

Create Systems to Help You

Who said you had to do everything by yourself? Look at your most time-sucking tasks and see if you can delegate, streamline, or get rid of them. For example, bookkeeping (obviously I’m bias, but…) can be a real drain on your time, and it’s got nothing to do with the work you love. So outsource it! Go through the rest of your job role, break it all down and see if you can do the same anywhere else. The work you do is important and demanding no matter which way you slice it; at least this way, it’s a little easier, and you can focus on the parts you love.

Maintain Outside Interests

It’s easy to become consumed by your work, especially when you’re passionate about it. In the interest of balance, it’s best to have interests unrelated to work that you can dive into in your free time. This helps you to take a step back, reduce stress, prevent burnout, and feel like there is more to your life than just your work.

Most importantly, remember that you have the right to downtime. Don’t think of it as detrimental to your business; rather, finding work-life balance helps you to thrive professionally. Good luck, and if you need help with bookkeeping, you know where I am!