In today’s world, achieving the ideal work-life balance is almost impossible. Working online, working all the time, or clocking long hours is a given for nearly everyone trying to make it in their industry. According to Statista, for 72% of actively employed people, achieving a somewhat ideal work-life balance is one of the most important goals to accomplish in their lives.
This is especially important when looking at the fact that 94% of employed people globally have, at some point in their careers, worked over 50 hours a week. This is raising red flags for several reasons. More time spent at work means less time spent on self-care. As Dr. To put it, “taking less care of yourself means being less able to take care of your loved ones.”
The overworked are less likely to eat healthy meals, since cooking at home means allocating more time for meal preparation. Many workers clocking overtime will just order fast food or have unhealthy take-out that’s easy to consume.
Being the proud leader of the Dr. Katie To Centre for Integrative Wellness and Cosmetic Dentistry team, Dr. To shared her secrets of being a dentistry professional, business owner, mother, and wife, while still finding the time to be a passionate traveller.
Work-life balance is critical for several reasons.
“Studies show that those with a healthy balance have increased motivation and productivity,” said Dr. To. “Employees who don’t think about self-time tend to burn out more quickly than those with a balanced schedule.”
Having a healthy work-life balance is essential for one’s health and well-being. Working over 40 hours a week can appear unmanageable. Still, it can be even more stressful to try and balance family life with demanding job responsibilities. “Slow down,” she suggested, “and spend more time with the family — stay more energised.”
Dr. Katie To believes that the key lies in staying in the present and practicing self-accountability with micro-tasks. This way, accomplished and upcoming tasks can be reviewed, but strict planning is vital. With well-planned time, she says, “you can enjoy doing something you love, being present with your loved ones, or just enjoying time relaxing with your thoughts.”
Overall, having a good balance improves almost every aspect of a persons’ life. One of the biggest challenges Dr. Katie To felt in the beginning of her career was one of the most common concerns with modern work for women. She had dealt with the guilt of returning to work as a new mom. Given her scare with mercury poisoning, she also had concerns about her children at home being exposed to toxins from dentistry.
Dr. Katie’s most significant piece of advice is to “always make time for wellness, or you will be forced to make time for illness.” With this approach, Dr. To had an exciting thing happen recently — her business kept growing during the COVID lockdown. As she explained, “the crazy thing is the pandemic made my practice blow up. Our office already practiced the safety measures because of keeping our business mercury-free; we just made the recommended measures a standard.”
“The only things in life we can spend once and never again are time and our health,” Dr. To adds. “That’s why we need to carefully choose how to live our lives, and that’s why work-life balance is so important to achieve.”
