5 Key Methods for Taking Care of Yourself in Your Career

Building the right career for yourself can be one of the most exciting yet challenging areas of your life. During the career journey, it’s important to protect and care for yourself in order to get the best out of everything you do.

Why Should You Be Prioritizing Yourself in Your Work?

No job or career is worth compromising your health or wellbeing for. No matter what you’re trying to achieve within your career, it shouldn’t come at the cost of your health. It’s, therefore, crucial to look after yourself, first and foremost.

Furthermore, only when you’re the healthiest and most positive you can be, can you really strive for success and be in a better position to reach your goals.

It doesn’t only count for health and wellbeing reasons, either. Building a successful career means taking the right steps to protect yourself and always staying on track with your own goals and needs. You shouldn’t ever feel as though you’re working for no gain, or that you’re being taken advantage of, for example. Your effort and work is worth something, and you have the right to build a career that you are happy and healthy within.

5 Key Methods for Taking Care of Yourself

Below is a guide of the top five ways that you can take care of yourself.

Know the Boundaries Between Extra Work and Too Much Work

When you’re trying to solidify a career for yourself, it’s usually going to come with hard work and dedication, and that might mean a few extra hours at the office. There’s nothing wrong with working extra hours to hone your skills, make a good impression, or for other reasons which will support your pursuits.

However, it’s important to understand when extra work is simply too much work. Overtime hours and a substantial work ethic will look great in the eyes of your boss or on your resume, but nothing is worth becoming ill, overworked, and burned out for.

Likewise, if you’re trying to juggle more than one job in order to meet your career obligations alongside your financial obligations, be sure to understand how to also implement a good work-life balance and ensure that you also have time off to relax.

Adhere to Proper Health and Safety Practices

While it’s important (and a legal requirement) for employers to provide a safe working environment for their employees, it’s also important that you move around your place of work safely and with awareness in order to prevent injury.

If unfortunately, you’re involved in a workplace accident or injury where you were not at fault, you can put in a claim to protect yourself and your finances if time off work or negative repercussions have been caused.

What’s important is that you get the care and attention needed for your recovery, as well as financial reimbursement if you have suffered a loss.

Employees can build solid cases, including the use of medico-legal reports, to substantiate their claim: click here to find out more. With a professional’s help, you can get exactly what you deserve.

Don’t Settle for Less

When you’re trying to build a career, the chances will be that you’re trying to work your way up and build a valuable set of skills that is worth something. This means that you should always keep focused on what you’re aiming for and what you’re worth. Know the salary that is acceptable for a position like yours, given the skills you have and don’t accept a pay which is significantly lower.

Likewise, always be sure to speak with your boss for any situations which make you feel as though you are not being treated fairly. For instance, perhaps you’re the most hardworking of your team with the most responsibility, but you’re the lowest paid and continually get overlooked for promotions. Don’t ignore situations where you are not gaining your fullest.

Sacrifices or compromises sometimes have to be made for the greater career good, though, such as a pay dip to accommodate a position which will eventually help you to secure a position within the field you’re looking for.

However, it’s important to be able to distinguish between compromises you’re able to make, and those situations when you’re purely being taken advantage of or are underappreciated.

Implement a Healthy Work Routine

You’re legally allowed to have a designated lunch break and regular breaks throughout the day. This is extremely important for office jobs in particular, where you are sat down all day looking at a screen. Regular breaks are essential for your health, as is the opportunity to get up, walk around and stretch your legs.

You also need to be sure that you’re having a healthy lunch break, too. Rushed lunches, or lunches that are taken at your desk while still working, will do your health and wellbeing no good. It’s also more likely that you’ll grab an unhealthy and quick food solution that way, too.

Instead, prepare healthy meals in advance to take for lunch, and be sure that you’re getting the breaks that should be allotted to you.

Look After Your Mental Health

Being career-oriented and striving for success puts a lot of pressure on you. It’s easy to become self-critical or take any failure very personally, such as failed job interviews or lack of promotion. This can have a big detrimental effect on your mental health if you feel like your career journey isn’t playing out the way you had hoped.

What’s important is that you’re taking the right steps to look after your wellbeing and mental health. Be sure to plan thoroughly for your chosen career path so that you can be fully focused on the right steps you need to take. Taking the wrong steps can set you back and further dampen your mood.

If you are severely struggling with your mental health, be sure to seek professional advice, whether from your doctor or another support system, and take the time to concentrate on your own wellbeing alongside your career plans.

Try not to take failure too personally and stay positive with everything you do. All you can do is your best, so as long as you are doing that, you haven’t failed at anything.