Create the Perfect Work/Life Balance
Everyone wants to create the perfect work/life balance in their lives. This balance allows you to feel better, avoid all of the overwhelming things that show up in your day, and can make you feel happier too. But in our fast paced world, it is hard to figure out what exactly you need to work on in order to gain some of the work/life balance that your life needs.
Knowing what your priorities are and focusing on those, while letting go of some of the things that are just busy work, or at least are not important to you, will make a difference. Balance is possible, but you need to take some of the necessary proactive steps to turn it into reality. Some of the secrets that anyone can follow in order to find the balance, and happiness, you need, includes:
Identify Your Priorities
The first thing that you need to do to gain more balance in your life, is to figure out what your priorities are in the first place. There are a million things that will pull at your attention all the time. And this is part of what will make your life feel overwhelming, if you are not careful. You will not be able to do it all, so you need to focus on what is the most important to you along the way.
The things that you hold onto as priorities will be different compared to what someone else finds as important. And these things can change throughout your life as well. Spending time with your kids and making memories may not be as important once they are grown and out of the house. Or you may want to spend more time working on your career when you are younger, before you think about having kids and a family.
You need to take some time to learn what your own priorities will be along the way. You can pick a few that you will focus on all the time, improving your life in those areas to add in more balance. Your priorities may change based on the time of year it is, for example, near the holidays, your priority will be more around family and getting things done at work so you can enjoy the time with your family.
Take Action On Those Priorities
After you have had a chance to figure out what your priorities are, it is time to take some action steps. It is not enough to just say that you find work as a priority or that you want to spend more time with your family. Talking and thinking are great, but you need to take some actions to reach your goals.
If you have decided that your priority is work, then you will need to find ways to get ahead in your career. You can learn how to work through some of the different time management options to help you get more done, learn how to say no so you are able to fit in the most important things, and even continue your education to make sure that you are ready for the next promotion.
Maybe you have decided that spending more time with your family is a top priority that you would like to work on. You may need to schedule time to get this done. Schedule a weekend away, a night to play some games, or even time having a meal together. This will allow you a way to get more done with your loved ones and get in some of that high-quality time that you want too.
The point is that you need to actively work towards your priorities. You can’t just say that they are important. You need to focus more on the actions that you are able to do to reach those priorities as well. With an action plan in place, you will be able to balance out your life and see great results.
Focus on One Thing at a Time
When it is time to review your work/life balance, you may be overcome with excitement and want to jump right in and do it all. This is an admirable quality to work with and I praise you for being ambitious. For most, however, they will overwhelm themselves and feel like a failure when things do not come into the perfect work/life balance right away. This is because you are taking on too much at once, which can make it difficult to really focus and master the one thing that is the most important.
Stop trying to do it all.
That is part of what caused this problem in the first place. You need to prioritize what is the most important and figure out what you would like to focus on, one thing at a time. It may seem like you are making slow progress when you do just one thing at a time, but it will make a difference and will get you faster compared to going to all of the things at once. When you can focus on the thing that is most important at the time, rather than everything else, you will see that big improvements are possible in a short amount of time.
Create a goal for each day and each week.
This will help you to figure out what is the most important thing for you to see success. Pick the main priority that you had from above and make that the thing that you will do. As long as you see some progress each day, even if it is just a little bit of progress, you will be further than when you started. Even if no one else seems to notice, keep moving forward and you will see results.
When you wake up in the morning, consider what you are going to do to make it better. Will that be the day that you focus on your family and spend time with them? Or do you really need to get work done that day? Prioritize your focus on what you will be getting done that day, look at what the plan is for the day, and then focus on making that specific day the best that you possibly can so you feel better overall.
It is too hard for you to focus on everything at once. You can try, but you will not be as efficient, compared to just focusing on one thing at a time. Figure out what you would like to work with one thing at a time and make that the priority.
Use a planner
This may make you feel like you have gone back to high school, but it is one of the best ways to keep things as organized as possible. It will ensure that you are not going to forget about something important and it gives you a great way to look, at a glance, how busy your schedule is at the time. When you are able to see all of your obligations laid out in front of you, it is easier to figure out if you are busy or if you have time for something new.
Pick out a planner that you like. There are a lot of options out there. Some are just a basic calendar so you can write things down while others will include fun organizational items to keep things in order. Some can go in a book and others will go on your fridge. You can even choose to go with an online version so you can access the information from any location, without having to remember to bring it along with you.
Once you have a planner, make sure you write everything down. This will include any appointments you have, appointments for your kids, your spouse, your work engagements, or anything else that needs to happen during the month. Then before you decide to take on anything else, you can go through and look at the planner. If a date is already fully or the week looks like it is filling up, you can take a break and say no thank you, I appreciate you thinking of me, maybe another time.
With a planner, you will be able to organize your time and get the best results. You will not forget about something and double book, leaving you feeling exhausted. You will get a chance to schedule in relaxation or family time. You get to decide and use the planner in the way that you want. Just be sure to have it handy and schedule in things so you do not get overwhelmed.
Learn When to Say No
This can be hard.
We do not want to disappoint anyone. We want them to value us and know that they can count on us through thick and thin. And we end up loading up our schedules and cutting into other things that are more important in our lives.
If you want to free up more of your time and really add in that work/life balance…
You will need to learn how to say no.
This helps you to prioritize your life and the time that you spend on different things. When you are not taking on a million projects for work to help everyone else, you have more time for your family. When you take a day to not see extended family and friends, you can use that time to relax and work on your health.
This does not mean you have to say no to every opportunity that comes your way. It simply means that you will be more selective on your time and you can choose which activities you would like to do, rather than feeling obligated and then taking on more than you can handle. You will be happier when you say yes to something and will actually enjoy doing it, while saving time for the other aspects of your life that you want to work on.
Do not worry about others getting mad about this. For some people, they will get mad because there are boundaries being put in place and this is not something that they like. For most people, they will understand that you are too busy and will start to value your time more and will only ask for help when they really need it the most. As time goes on, you will know, that when someone asks you for help, it is something they really need.
Adding in that work/life balance can be such an important way to help you gain happiness. Often, we feel worn out and tired because we do not have the time to get it all done or there is some aspect of our lives that is difficult to get done because the others are taking over. Adding in that work/life balance is going to help you to live a happier life overall.
