So, how to balance between your work and personal life? Let’s find out.
Life and work, these are probably the two most important parts of everyone’s life.
Your life includes you, your family, and your friends while you work covers every other external aspect of how you strive to make ends meet.
But, as important as these two parts are, they are not so good at playing hand in hand. Work is an enemy of life and life is an enemy of work.
Technically not physical enemies but the moment you prioritize one, you definitely will affect the other.
However, it is very possible to work and live life without compromising on any. This is work-life balance and it is one of those things everyone lacks greatly at.
Balance between your work and your personal life is the equilibrium that occurs when you prioritize your work equally as you prioritize your life.
By perfectly attaining work-life balance, you feel very much happier while experiencing a greater sense of well-being.
So, how exactly do you balance work and life? well, why not let’s find out.
Welcome to Thriven Authority and in today’s topic we’ll be touching on proven tips that when properly implemented can help you give equal attention to your life and your work.
Ready to know what these tips are? Let’s get stared.
Tip Number One: Start By Knowing That There’s No Perfect Work-life Balance
I know by now you are already feeling confused as to what this video is all about in the first place.
I mean, why say there isn’t a perfect work-life balance when you claim there’s a way to balance life and work? Well, the problem lies in perfectionism.
So many tend to prioritize perfectionism that they fail to achieve what they truly want.
The tips in this video will help you attain life and work balance but you should know that everything is a phase and you might fail along the line.
Don’t beat yourself up when you do, just learn from the errors and make a fix.
In fact, Heather Monahan, a career mentor and the founder of BossinHeels, says that it is important to remain fluid and regularly view where you are now with your goals and priorities.
Don’t be all about creating the perfect schedule, just aim for a realistic one.
Some days might need you to be all about work while some might provide more time for you to chase after your hobbies.
Balance is something that comes over time and not in a day.
By understanding this, you will become happier, feel fulling, have control over your time, and excellently balance your life.
Tip Number Two: Avoid Telecommuting
Telecommuting is what we refer to as remote work, the future state of work in which employees don’t have to go through the stress of traveling to a central workplace like an office building or warehouse.
Put in a simpler sense, it’s the process of work from anywhere in the world. Being able to work from anywhere sounds awesome, so, why shouldn’t you do it?
Well, if you are really hoping to balance your life and your work, then you need to learn to let something find their place.
When you start working from home all the time, maybe even working from your bed, it become very hard to separate the two.
A research conducted by sociologists from the University of Iowa and the University of Texas showed that those who work from home end up expending longer hours on work that people who go to an office environment.
This is because you tend to feel more pressure to work just more and a little more till you miss out on other life stuff.
By avoiding telecommuting, you reduce disruptions in your home, and get to spend more time with yourself and those you love.
Tip Number Three: Try Focusing On One Task At A Time
Everybody wants to be very productive and it is okay to want that but you shouldn’t put too much of yourself into work that you try to execute several operations at a time.
Be productive one step at a time.
In any situation, try to stay focused on what’s in front of you, don’t divide your attention between other tasks.
By dividing your attention, you loose focus and you waste more time trying to regain the focus.
In fact, Harvard Business Review confirms that it takes over 15 minutes for the mind to get back to focus after it has been distracted.
When you waste time trying to shuffle between several tasks at once, you end up spending more time on work and this creates a problem with your personal life.
You become stressed and tired. By focusing on just one task, you feel much relief, greater sense of control, and gain more time to do other life activities.
Tip Number Four: Learn To Say No Sometimes
So, you colleague, comes… hey man, can you help me out with these files, just a few of them, I need to meet with this girl… and I really need this… you know I do?
Then you say… yes, of course, go get her!
Sure, that’s nice of you but your boss comes again and ask if you can work late tonight and then again you say… sure, why not?
I’m guessing you are noticing the pattern.
You most likely would want to please your mates and superiors but sometimes, you need to learn to say no.
Remember you are supposed to take your kids out for dinner?
Don’t think that will be a weak excuse because if your work-life balance is important to you, then you will know how to avoid overworking.
You could try putting things on your calendar and setting a reminder for them.
2016 scientific research published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology also confirms that putting things on your calendar can make it easier to say no to other incoming requests.
Saying no sometimes will make you life and work stay perfectly balanced.
Tip Number Five: Reduce The Number Of Meetings
Whether you are the CEO of your company, an employee, or you just freelance, in order to maintain a balance between your work and your life, you need to cut down on the number of meetings you attend.
Meetings in workplaces aren’t just about productivity alone, in fact there are many times we’ve all somehow found ourselves in long, unproductive, and unnecessary meetings.
A research by Atlassian also confirms this affirming that people waste an average of 31 hours a month on unproductive meetings.
By reducing the number of meetings and attending only the necessary ones, you get to save more time that you can use on something else.
Tip Number Six: Learn To Know When To Quit
To put this last tip in a proper sentence, you should set an alarm and go to bed when the alarm rings.
Most people have the problem of bringing their work home.
Sure, you’ve met up on other parts of life you need to handle and now you have free time to spend on work.
It’s okay… we know the assignment might be very important but not as important as your life. Learn to know when to stop working and go to sleep.
Sleep is important but we take it for granted. The CDC even confirms that one in three Americans is sleep deprived.
The lack of enough sleep can lead to stress, weakness, and decreased performance.
Try setting an alarm 20 minutes to your bed time, once the alarm goes off, pack up the work and go to sleep.
By setting an alarm to prepare you for bed, you increase your chances of a better life with an awesome good night sleep.
And that’s it!
Apply these tips and your life and work will slowly come to equilibrium.
But there’s still more. Why not check your YouTube Videos, subscribe to the channel, turn on the notifications bell. Peace out.
