Balancing It All

Balance Should Be The Top of Your To-Do List

There’s not a single person on this earth who is immune to feeling the pressure to balance work commitments and maintaining a fulfilling personal life. It’s a fact that to maintain a healthy balance between these two necessary elements of life takes a lot of work, awareness, and willingness to cooperate and compromise with prospective barriers that may arise.

Depending on your work situation and home life, this ‘balance’ will mean something different for everybody, and the first lesson is to realize that YOUR work-life balance will look different to somebody else’s (even if that ‘somebody’ is your best friend). I’ve found that the best way to figure out where you stand on all of it is to really get honest with yourself about where you’re struggling.

Self-inquiry is key, especially with asking important questions to hold yourself accountable.

• Do you HAVE to spend extra hours in the office, or are you doing it to avoid a situation at home?
• Are you truly happy in your work life? If not, is this leading to you over-compensating in your personal relationships or struggling emotionally?

I realize that these issues are not altogether easy to solve, and it’s for this reason I have put together this content to help you maintain awareness and motivation to keep these things in balance! Let’s discuss how daily motivation and inspiration keeps your work-life balance in check, and also prompts you towards some self-inquiry to investigate WHY and HOW any difficulties may be arising.

Support Vs. Accountability

While some people are capable of combating their imbalances alone, I think most of us will agree that it’s nice to have a little bit of support along the way. The ‘work-life balance’ struggle is no different. It’s about getting honest with yourself and starting to implement lasting change to achieve balance. Not only this, but I encouraged you to tackle these issues head-on instead of merely reading about them and moving on with your day.

Support is important, yes, but accountability is KEY when seeking to make any substantial lifestyle changes. That’s why I encourage you to take responsibility for areas you’ve neglected and implement realistic, lasting changes for yourself!

I believe that it’s possible for everybody to experience the ideal work-life balance and I’m dedicated to helping you to learn more to do it yourself!

Work Hard, Play Hard, Sleep Hard

If there’s one thing the majority of us struggle with over all else, it is striking the perfect work-life balance. You may have achieved success in one of these areas, but until the other is balanced out and functioning at a similar pace to be in harmony together, there will still be difficulties in everyday life.

One of the most effective ways I have found to do this is to prioritize SLEEP. Yes, eat well and exercise regularly, but neither of these things will prove of any benefit at all if the body doesn’t have sufficient energy to allow them to take place. It’s been proven time and time again that both physical and mental health benefit from sufficient periods of regular and systematic deep sleep. With this in mind, it should be the first avenue taken when seeking to improve the balance between work responsibilities and personal obligations.

Some tips to begin:

• Keep a sleep diary
  This will help you identify and acknowledge periods of poor sleep and allow you to try to investigate reasons for it.
• Try a sleep app
  There are tons of phone apps nowadays that help to record your sleeping patterns. The more technical ones actually measure the depth and quality of your sleep too!
• Avoid screens in the hour preceding bedtime, and keep artificial light to a minimum.
• Avoid eating directly before bedtime, as doing so inhibits proper digestion and this can cause poor sleep quality and wakefulness during the night.

Balance is Key

There’s a common misconception that being busy is an admirable thing to be. There is simply no point in working yourself to the bone 12 hours a day if you can’t make the time to ENJOY the downtime.

So many people struggle to relax–work-related stress and anxiety are at an all-time high, and the increasing pressure to ‘perform’ well in strict work environments is a recipe for disaster when it comes to work-life balance.

It seems we’re drawing attention more and more to how much we must get done as if it’s something to envy–as if people are actually energized and content by being swamped with work responsibilities. If you haven’t already realized, this is simply not sustainable. Always prioritizing work responsibilities will inevitably cause a response on the other end–whether your home or social life begins to suffer, or your health, etc. Something will always give.

The point here is simply that achieving a sustainable work-life balance should be prioritized, especially for those with stressful jobs. This isn’t always easy, and it isn’t always clear how best to do it.

Delegation and Learning to Trust

Are you guilty of biting off more than you can chew at work? Taking on too much responsibility can have disastrous effects not only on your mental and physical health but also on your home life and personal relationships. Yes, I know you are more than capable of doing a good job, but what about your co-workers? What about the people who are just waiting for their chance to shine and show they are just as efficient as you?

Learning the art of delegation is so important, especially if you have responsibility over others at work. Trust that they will do as good a job as you would. Allow for tasks to be delegated and split between co-workers, rather than trying to do too much yourself.

This is a tool for many business owners and management teams to learn in their search for work-life balance, and it comes with practice and a definitive learning curve. Sharing the workload is easy when you have trust in your partners/employees, and this trust is only built over time and slowly leaving tasks in their hands, allowing you more time and energy to focus on other areas of your life.

Delegation allows us to slowly learn to trust more, to relax into the flow of things as they happen, and to start enjoying the process of completing tasks rather than rushing to ensure it’s all done!

The Art of Unplugging

 

‘Unplugging’ is the new taboo word for workers of all spheres–especially those working in tech or online businesses. The studies have proven that the more screen-time we get, the less capable and engaged we are at participating in everyday life. This means that our work-life balance becomes confused and the body has a harder time relaxing at night, conserving enough energy for everyday tasks, and conversing face to face in real life and not through a screen!

Even if you don’t work online, the less time spent with your head in a laptop or phone screen the better–your personal relationships will improve, and you’ll find yourself inhabiting an overall happier mindset, free from comparison to other people’s seemingly perfect and filtered lives.

If you work at a desk or from a laptop, try to limit the number of tabs you keep open as you work–keep open only those which are relevant to the task at hand. Make sure to stand up and move your body at least every 2 hours, and maintain an awareness of any spine-curvatures or upper back pain developing as this might be a sign your posture needs correcting.

Find a work-life balance by unplugging, and see your work AND your life improve!

What Makes Your Morning “Good”?

There’s nothing better than setting and following certain morning rituals in the quest to achieve a better work-life balance. Setting yourself up each day in a beneficial way greatly impacts productivity and motivation to continue the day on in a similar fashion.

The key with morning rituals is to make them SIMPLE. Simple and realistic to your lifestyle, environment, and unique circumstances. It could be a morning run, a yoga practice, meditation session, or even something as simple as taking the time to write a daily affirmation and sticking it to your mirror, or preparing and drinking a cup of your favorite tea. Whatever it is, committing to a ritual like this in the morning will hugely impact how the rest of your day unfolds.

Taking time for yourself in this way prior to tackling any work responsibilities ensures you can do so from a place of more grounded awareness and self-assured capability. The self has been attended to; your cup has been filled – now you can move forwards to pour from it.

Move Your Body

You’ve gotten adequate sleep, you’re nourished with some healthy, balanced meals, and now you’re wondering why you’re still feeling drained and lethargic…

The funny thing is, even if we give our bodies all of this necessary downtime to recharge and refuel, the energy is likely to stay dormant unless we start to MOVE our bodies in a way that feels good!

Exercise is key to maintaining a healthy work-life balance, and whether you consider exercise to fall under the ‘work’ category or the ‘life’ category, that doesn’t change the fact that movement is key to healthy functioning and happiness.

Even if you can’t make it to the gym or out for a run, there’s nothing wrong with turning up some of your favorite music and dancing to shake off that excess stress and anxiety. Cultivating a healthy attitude towards exercise is what this is all about–moving not to ‘lose weight’ or compensate for eating, but moving to feel energized and good!

Manage Your Energy

The problem with being overworked and undercharged is that there will always be one area which suffers. Whether this is your home life, personal relationships, or your work productivity and success, it all comes down to this:

We only have a certain amount of energy.

This energy fluctuates within a given day and depending on certain factors like diet, activity levels, and mental stimulation, we will have times of peak, and more often than we’d like to admit, crashes throughout the day. The goal is to balance this energy out, so these fluctuations aren’t so extreme. Acknowledging the positive and the negative manifestations of energy levels, how they affect our work and home life, and slowly getting to know when we function at our best is part of achieving work-life balance.

Are you a morning person? Do you have to stay late at the office to get any work done? How could these things be altered to ensure you get a better balance and can start to manipulate your energy to suit your needs and lifestyle?

Start by simply noticing your energy levels–when is it at its highest? When do you tend to hit ‘slumps’ or ‘lows’? And what can be done to counteract these and return your energy closer to balance?

Energy awareness is KEY to work-life balance!

Time for Nourishment

Preparing healthy meals for your busy work week in advance is a great way to set yourself up for a week of balance between work challenges and lifestyle.

Knowing that you have a healthy, balanced meal prepared for you at home can add a considerable amount of ease and satisfaction to those final hours of your workday. This minimizing stresses about what to make for dinner, removing the need to visit the store on the way home, and also puts you in control of your nutrition every day ahead of time!

Nutrition and regular mealtimes can be challenging to ensure when you work week to week and rarely have time to put some thought into cooking food. Preparing thought out meals with your health and nourishment in mind during the weekend is a great way to prioritize your nutrition and as such your entire life. A balanced, healthy mind and body will allow you to function at your highest and maximize productivity, success, and overall job satisfaction.

You can pack in advance, use containers and place them in the fridge or freezer, or even bring them with you to the office to ensure their proximity when you need them!

Healthy Boundaries

Not having healthy boundaries in your work and personal life can easily lead to a poor work-life balance. This means knowing when to say NO to taking on extra work, when to agree to certain social events and when not to, and when to attend to the emotional needs of others before catering for your own first. It’s not selfish–it’s a necessary skill to learn to cultivate and maintain a healthy work-life balance.

In the case of family and personal life, this can prove slightly more challenging, but it doesn’t make it any less important. Take a while to reflect on your personal boundaries and values, and go forward from here to achieve a work-life balance you’ll be proud of!

Answer these questions for yourself:

• Do you find it difficult to set healthy boundaries in the workplace or at home?
• Do you find yourself always giving more and more, while those around you neglect to return the favor?

Finding Balance