These days, most people have a hard time striking a healthy middle ground between their various responsibilities and interests Strike a Balance Between Work and Your Personal Life. Staying alert and proactive is crucial in today’s fast-paced business environment. Unfortunately, this usually means putting work before everything else in life, which can wreak havoc on your work-life balance.
Having a good life balance means that your professional, social, and personal responsibilities are all being met in an equal manner. In today’s fast-paced world, we have to constantly switch between different tasks and responsibilities. To avoid internal strife, however, it is necessary to strike a balance between the many aspects of our lives.
If you’re having trouble striking this equilibrium, we have some suggestions to help you get back on track and live a more satisfying life.
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What Does It Mean to Strike a Balance in Your Life?
When everything in your life is just as it should be, you might declare that you have achieved a state of perfect equilibrium.
For instance, when you are able to devote sufficient time to your loved ones, enjoy the freedom to spend time outside, take care of your mental and physical health, and enjoy the fruits of your labors.
Maintaining a healthy life balance can be difficult, and vice versa. It arises when one’s way of living displays a chronic inability to deal with stress, lack of sleep, poor diet, lack of quality time spent with loved ones, or ongoing health problems.
Why is it vital to strike a balance between work and personal life?
Respect for one’s physical self, mental self, and spiritual self necessitates a pursuit of harmony in one’s daily life. Maintaining a healthy mental and physical state requires a well-rounded existence. You’ll get a good night’s rest, spend quality time with loved ones, accomplish more, and feel more content in your own skin. When you push yourself too far in an effort to impress others, [1] you end up unhappy. Put simply, don’t do too much of anything! Adopting a routine and way of life that is in harmony with your abilities and limitations is the first step toward achieving a healthy balance in your life, and it is perfectly OK to accept your limitations and live by these rules.
Puzzle of Striking a Healthy Work-Life Balance
Those who attempt to strike a balance between their professional and personal lives by creating a clear demarcation line between their job and personal lives are, ironically, generating a gulf between themselves.
The very act of putting “work” next to “life” forces people to make a conscious or unconscious tradeoff between the two. If one side benefits, the other must suffer a loss under this structure.
As a result, individuals begin to associate the term “work” with activities other than survival. They view “work” as something they have to endure until they can finally unplug from the world. However, if you label all of your work-related experiences as bad and painful while putting undue pressure on your ‘life’ to be fun and exciting, you will never find that elusive equilibrium.
Finding a new, more fulfilling job can help you reestablish a healthy work-life balance. However, there is no such thing as perfect work. Some parts of every work are bound to be boring no matter how skilled you are. Sooner or later, you’ll be back where you started: balancing “life” against “work.” This is because you haven’t altered the previous paradigm.
What to look for if you suspect your life is out of whack
Your health is deteriorating or deteriorating rapidly.
Seventy-seven percent of working Americans have felt burnout on the job at some point, and 72 percent priorities work-life balance when deciding between employment. If you push yourself beyond your mental and physical limits to maintain a healthy work-life balance, it will likely have negative effects on both areas of your life. Health problems like high/low blood pressure, stomach aches, anxiety, sadness, etc. are indicators that your life is out of whack.
You’re Picking and Choosing Whatever Aspects of Your Life to Value.
Having life balance implies being content in all facets of your existence. You need to make time for everything in your life, from your social circle to your professional obligations. Overcompensating on one aspect seven days a week is a sign that your life is becoming unbalanced.
An example of an unbalanced lifestyle would be prioritizing work over spending time with family and friends or spending most weekends away from home. Perhaps you even let work take precedence over family time when you’re at home.
No Nutritious Meals are Part of Your Regular Routine.
Nutritional deficiencies are a direct result of an incongruous lifestyle. Even after getting home from the office, you would continue to miss meals or eat poorly. Even if you didn’t mean to, it still shows that your health wasn’t a top priority. One solid clue that something is off in your life is if you find yourself eating less than optimally during mealtimes.
You Are Dissatisfied
If everything is well, then why aren’t you happy? There’s clearly something wrong here. Correct?
Consider it a sign that your life is out of sync with itself. It’s a sign that your life’s equilibrium has been thrown off. Absolute contentment can be attained by maintaining a healthy equilibrium.
Tips for Striking a Balance Between Your Personal and Professional Lives
To offset the gloominess they experience throughout the workweek, most people try to focus on the bright side of life outside of the office.
Work performance will suffer if it’s all negative at work and all positive when the work mode is turned off, which in turn will generate even more negativity. When people aren’t dealing with any difficulties at work, they tend to rely on their off-mode life as a source of satisfaction.
If they continue to think in terms of an on/off switch, all the bad things will happen to their off-mode selves, and their relationships and health will suffer as a result.
One person who fits this description is Gregory.
Gregory runs a brand-new corporation as its chief executive officer. He’s dedicated to his job and treats it as a calling. About a year ago, he made some strategic expansions to his company, which resulted in increased success and money. All of his time and effort was invested in his job, leaving him little to focus on his own well-being.
Because of his stress, he had trouble sleeping, was anxious most of the time, and endured constant discomfort in his back and stomach. His work performance began to suffer as a direct result of his deteriorating health.
After taking our Life Assessment, Gregory realized that he cared only about his job. His health was only one of many areas of his life that he ignored. His body was signaling to him at the time to try something new.
Let’s say you’re one of the lucky ones who receive compliments from both parties. One of the less than 5% of the population that you are. Here are the actions for the other 95% of people to take to have a more reasonable work-life balance.
Find Your True Identity Again
The way out is to rediscover a sense of wholeness. When you accomplish this, you’ll destroy the false dichotomy between job and life, wherein the former is subconsciously associated with pain and the latter with pleasure. Optimistic vibes will start to permeate every aspect of your existence.
Asking oneself “Why do I do what I do in life and work?” can help restore a sense of unity.
You might think of your response to this question as a design for a whole you, one that is infused with significance since it speaks to who you are and what you care about.
Look at your job, play, and relationships through the lens of your blueprint and determine whether there is harmony between the areas. Instead of “balance,” the new framework focuses on “alignment.”
A few things will become clear to you as a result of this:
- Certain facets of your work are not being negatively impacted: If you take another look, you’ll see numerous uplifting features that mirror your values. For instance, you might place a high value on creativity and recognize that you have regular opportunities to use this trait in the workplace.
- The things that matter to you at “work” are the same things that matter to you in “life”: You may, for instance, hold the value of friendship highly and strive to demonstrate this value in your interactions with coworkers. All of your behaviors and relationships are guided by your beliefs, making you one whole person.
- Working and living in harmony complement and strengthen one another. The kindness shown to friends can also help build rapport with customers. Your ingenuity in the workplace can help you overcome challenges at home.
Most importantly, you will never again need to employ the on/off work approach since your actions will always be guided by your deepest values. Consequently, you will discover that your positive energy does not drain or overflow, turn on/off, but rather flows continually through all your states of being in an endlessly reinforcing positive feedback loop.
Getting back to Gregory, he enrolled in a program that could help him after he realized how much he needed to alter his routine. In response, he signed up for our Full Life Framework Course.
Gregory, with the support of the Programmed and my staff, began to see how neglecting one area of his life might have a domino effect on his entire existence. The first thing he did was rearrange his priorities and get his schedule in order. He made sure to set aside enough time for himself to focus on health and fitness. In addition, he started working out at home to strengthen his back, with the guidance of our Busy Yet Fit Programmed, which helped significantly with his back pain. Since he had begun practicing self-care, he was able to cope with stress in the workplace. He now feels physically and mentally rejuvenated after getting better sleep.
Your shift in perspective from equilibrium to alignment is an inward revolution that can give you strength no matter what your external conditions are.
For instance, it could shed light on the stress you’re under at work. But now that you have your plan laid out, you can see what’s making you unhappy (i.e., what isn’t in line with your values?) and either remind yourself of the reasons you’re doing what you’re doing, make some adjustments, or find a new line of work.
Positive thinking may keep you going even if you’re between jobs. Even if you like your job, you keep at it because you realize how important it is to provide for your loved ones.
Or, if you’re a workaholic, your plan might show you that the things you used to dismiss as “off-mode” (relaxing, having fun, pursuing a passion, spending time with family and friends) actually contain a wealth of qualities that support and enrich a balanced professional life.
Take the Life Assessment here for free to obtain a personalized report on how well-balanced your life currently is.
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Here Are 19 Easy Steps to Find Your Zen
Happiness and success in all areas of life can be attained through striking a healthy balance between work and personal life.
must exert oneself to achieve a proper equilibrium.
Here are some suggestions to get you going:
1. Get an early start on the day
The first step toward reestablishing equilibrium in your life is to convert to a morning person. When you rise early, you have time to prepare for the day ahead. Instead of diving headfirst into your day, getting up early will allow you to carefully plan out each activity.
2. Establish Your Top Priorities
Defining your priorities in life will help you make better choices. You have a firm grasp on the people and principles you wish to have front and center in your life. A newly minted lawyer in their mid-20s, for instance, would be willing to put in 60-hour weeks in order to gain experience, while a seasoned professional might be able to confidently decline such a request in order to spend more time with loved ones or pursue personal interests.
Successful people and teams know the value of setting priorities. Additionally, this will aid you in letting go of preconceived notions and establishing more realistic goals.
3. Make Health a Top Priority.
Maybe you don’t give much thought to your health in the morning. Nonetheless, if you want to strike a healthy balance in your life, you need to prioritize your health. It could involve things like changing your diet, getting more exercise, starting a meditation practice, etc.
Make a plan for when you will eat nutritious meals and stick to it.
4. Place More Value on Outcomes Than Efforts
Focus your efforts on accomplishing more significant goals rather than working harder. Simplifying your life’s primary concerns gives you more time to do the things that bring you the most joy and fulfillment.
It’s simple to become caught up in a never-ending stream of tasks that does nothing to advance your business and only serves to drain your vitality. You have a lot on your plate, no free time, and a lot of responsibilities. It’s not uncommon for this to leave you feeling exhausted, concerned, and unable to communicate at the end of the day.
You’ll feel more accomplished, confident, and motivated if you prioritize a small number of high-impact initiatives. Additionally, you may be able to leave work earlier and devote that time to the people who are truly important to you.
5. Relinquish Your Fears
Whether they are business owners, leaders, or managers, many people live in constant fear that they will miss out on something crucial if they aren’t working or making the appearance of working.
They could lose money on the venture or miss out on a promotion. There is always something to be done.
But suppose you finally convince yourself that you are worthy of love and respect because you are accomplishing important goals and making contributions to the world.
Having reached that point of certainty and assurance, you will no longer need to worry that “there is always more.” Because you’ll know that what you did was sufficient, you’ll sense more joy, productivity, and abundance. [4]
You can use this manual as a resource if you’re having trouble overcoming illogical worries and thoughts.
6. Understand the Value of “No”
The key to a healthy work-life balance is mastering the skill of saying “no” at work when necessary.
Your standing in the company will suffer if you are always disobeying orders (and your chances for better opportunities and promotions will do the same). In contrast, if you decline after giving it some serious consideration, it shows that you care about your priorities.
Only decline work requests when absolutely necessary. This is an acquired ability that gets better with practice. Feel free to decline your boss’s request that you work on an extra assignment over the weekend if you feel you need time to concentrate on finding ways to deal with stress.
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7. Realize the Scales Are Always Tipping
In a perfect world, you’d finish work every weekday at 6 p.m. and relax until the weekend. However, it’s possible that you won’t be able to consistently work that many hours every week.
For instance, corporate accountants frequently work late into the night during the month-end close. Expect to put in extra time during busy seasons, and schedule accordingly. Obviously, if you’ve just finished ten weeks in a row of working sixty hours per week, it’s time to reevaluate your work ethic.
The goal is to feel somewhat in harmony most of the time, without beating yourself up if you don’t.
8. “FaceTime” Is Not an Accurate Metric of Worth
However, unless your company runs on a billable-hour basis, putting in more hours will not necessarily result in a higher return on investment. According to Parkinson’s Law, working longer hours makes you less productive. [5] After all, you can tell yourself that you need “only a few minutes” on Facebook because you can always make up the time later.
Earning a high salary is highly dependent on one’s level of education, years of experience in the workforce, and field of expertise. Adding more time to your workweek without adding any real value is pointless. Improve the worth of your work by making the most of your time in the office with efficient time management.
Make a Flowchart Making a flowchart can be a great way to visualize your day. Prioritizing jobs, family, friends, etc., can be done in a planned manner. The parts of your routine that could benefit from time blocks or breaks would also become clearer.
9. Open a Journal
Keeping a daily notebook has been immensely helpful to my development as a person and my pursuit of personal goals. My hopes and aspirations belong here. It is where I keep my imagination and my analytical apparatus. It’s also a record of the way I’m feeling, thinking, and believing at the moment.
Though it seemed like a baby step at the time, developing the practice of keeping a journal has had a profound effect on my life.
So, get a journal and start writing. See where your thoughts take you if you write every day, even if it’s just for five minutes.
10. Manage Energy Proactively
At 10 a.m., how would you evaluate your vitality and productivity on a scale from zero to ten?
What does that mean in terms of your level of energy at 4 o’clock?
Most people experience a slow loss in energy and concentration throughout the day. The afternoon letdown describes this phenomenon. Whenever this occurs, it’s probably time to brush up on your energy management skills. An afternoon slump in motivation is common, but you should feel refreshed just in time to punch out. If you find that you are constantly exhausted, you may want to consider making some dietary changes, fitting in a little workout during the afternoon, or catching a quick nap when you get home.
11. Find a Job in a Firm That Promotes a Healthy Work-Life Balance
When it comes to promoting a healthy work-life balance, some companies have fared better than others. Work for a company that prioritizes work-life balance instead of trying to fix the problematic culture of a large business.
Thankfully, there is a growing trend of businesses emphasizing work-life balance.
In order to succeed in your job search, it’s important to get a sense of the company’s culture throughout the interview process. During the interview, you can bring up the topic of work-life balance and ask the hiring manager for their opinion.
12. Workout Several Times Weekly
For some, working out is a luxury they’ll get around to “someday.” If you’re trying to maintain any semblance of sanity in your life, you know how crucial it is to keep moving.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends a combination of aerobic activities (such as walking, running, cycling, and swimming) and muscle-strengthening activities (including lifting weights and bodyweight exercises) for an effective exercise week [6].
If you don’t have a regular workout programmed, you’ll feel less energized, which will negatively affect your daily activities.
13. Make More Room for the Family
It was in part because of my interest in this region that I decided to launch a coaching career.
I wanted to spend more time with my family, especially my two small children. Sometimes I drive the kids to school, and we have many “family dinners” and “bedtime stories” together. This autonomy is critical to the success of my business and the services I provide to other entrepreneurs.
Making some room in your schedule to invest in meaningful relationships will yield enormous benefits.
14. Schedule in Daily Reflection Time
When we make an effort, it’s surprising how much time we can find in a day.
So often, people tell me, “I don’t have time.”
Why don’t you try reorienting you’re thinking and giving yourself permission to relax and unwind for sixty minutes every day? If it’s essential enough, we’ll all make the time for it. By devoting just an hour a day, we may find new ways to think, as well as gain more stamina and concentration. To top it all off, your powers will grow.
15. Do Something You Enjoy Every day
It’s all we can do to make it through the day as we get drawn into the vortex of routine. Sadly, we are prone to neglect the things that make us happiest.
Recommitting to the activities you enjoy the most is an excellent strategy for improving your quality of life. I recommend looking for a hobby or interest if you don’t already have one. Reading, walking, meditating, learning an instrument or a language, or even improving one’s culinary skills or gardening knowledge are all examples of this.
Nothing is more important than finding something that makes you happy and bringing it into your life. Create a regular routine in which you set aside time to do this one item. If you keep at it for a month, it’ll start to feel like second nature. What’s more, it’ll assist you in getting back in touch with the things that matter most.
16. Relax During Your Time Off.
There were “236 million entirely forfeited,” which equates to $65.5 billion in foregone payments. Not making use of your paid vacation time is the same as throwing money away. Take advantage of your break to recharge your batteries and give some attention to your emotional well-being.
17. Rely on Structures to Maintain Concentration
Do you employ routines and methods to maintain concentration and output? One of the most effective methods of saving time so that you can leave work on time every day is to do that.
Developing your own set of professional assets is a good place to start in order to boost your efficiency. Alternating your mode of transportation to and from work or arriving at the office at different times are other viable options. It’s possible to get a lot done before 9 a.m. in some companies because nobody is there yet.
18. Thankfulness to happiness.
It’s easy to lose sight of the present moment in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the day-to-day and the anticipation of what lies ahead. I think it’s crucial to practice proactive appreciation every day, to take stock of our lives, and be thankful for everything in it.
Many of us associate thankfulness with making a response. One event or act of kindness leads to another, and you find yourself feeling thankful. You thank them and perhaps send them an email.
Finding things, you’re grateful for is a more proactive approach to developing and living an abundant life. That’s not just bad for your mood, but it can have repercussions for those around you, too. One option is to write a personal card to those you care about or admire.
Try ending each day by reflecting on three things you’re grateful for and seeing how you feel.
