It is OK to say ‘No’ sometimes.

In a world where everyone we talk to appears to be constantly busy, overworked and struggling to find a balance between their career and life at home, saying ‘yes’ to everything that is asked of you is easy to do.

I imagine this is a familiar story for many of us working in healthcare. Saying no to things is something I have struggled with over the years because of wanting to give my all, particularly where patients are concerned.

Take a step back

However, sometimes just taking a step back assessing whether we really have the time and capacity to do what is being asked of us can be helpful. This is especially true when working in healthcare and managing huge caseloads.

Most of us enter the healthcare profession because we are passionate about what we do. It is important to make a difference to the services we support and the patients we see. We want to be successful in our career, but finding time to enjoy life outside of work is equally important.

We have all heard about the elusive work-life balance, but what is it?

Is it really achievable?

A work-life balance is said to be the amount of time you give to work compared to life outside of work – whether that is spending time with friends and family, hobbies, travelling, walking the dog or cleaning the house.

Working as a healthcare professional, it is even more important to find this balance especially as long shifts and huge workloads can all be contributors to ‘burn out’, exhaustion, stress and potentially time off.

To be successful in your career doesn’t always mean working more hours. Finding work that challenges and fulfils you professionally whilst also giving you the opportunity to enjoy being you can make you more productive at work.

Work smarter, not harder

In an interesting article by Stuart Jeffries in The Guardian newspaper, he writes about the ‘work more and sleep less’ school of thought being wrong. They quote US academic Matt Might, who wrote in his work-life balance blog: “The equation for work is output = unit of work/hour × hours worked. ‘Work more, sleep less’ people tend to focus too much on the hours worked part of the equation. The unit of work/hour part of the equation – productivity – is just as (if not more) important.”

Did you know

In Britain, we work more hours than our European counterparts but are said to be less productive.

Make time for you

It is important to make time for yourself and relax. Whether that is sitting down to eat with your family, picking the kids up from school, having a coffee with friends, going to the gym or walking the dog.

Try flexible working

If you are a highly qualified Healthcare professional; Advanced Nurse Practitioner, Advanced Clinical Practitioner, Emergency Nurse Practitioner, Emergency Care Practitioner, Pathways trained 111 Clinical Advisor, Registered General Nurse, Registered Mental Health Nurse, you are in luck!

Make work, work for you!

At Hallam Medical we have opportunities with some of the UK’s leading healthcare providers, giving you the opportunity to continue to do the job you love whilst enabling you to have the time to enjoy being you!

You can achieve a work-life balance with us.

Find out more about opportunities to suit you and your skill set here