In the hustle and bustle of everyday life you can feel like you're in the Indianapolis 500 at full throttle. In your personal life you may have kids, a significant other, friends and family that you try to make time for. Then there is your professional life that can consume a large portion of your day and night depending on where you are in your career.
It is so easy to lose control of your life personally and professionally. The two begin to blend together and you wonder where one starts and one ends. Life has to have some balance to it in order to keep you healthy and sane. This can often seem so hard to do but with a few tips you can find that balance and harmony in your life.
Can you really balance the two? The answer is a simple "yes". Remember these tips:
1) Plan of Attack - Before you can even begin to get your life in balance you need to first know where your life is out of balance. Are you spending too much time at work and not enough time at home? Are you working on the weekends instead of spending time with friends and family? Ask yourself these questions to determine where you need some adjustment.
2) Family Obligations - Are you married, have kids or a significant other? If so your life then isn't just about you. So when working on balancing your life, they have to be a consideration as well. What are you missing in this area? Ballet recital for your daughter? Date night with your spouse or significant other? You have to balance life and it has to include these important people in your life. So take that into consideration.
3) Delegate - It's easy in business to do a lot of things yourself so the job gets done right the first time. However in doing so you are taking away from your personal life. This is where delegation is essential. Delegating is important to balance in your life. Delegate the things that can be done by someone else. Be sure to have good systems in place so that when you delegate there are clear instructions on what needs to be done.
4) Schedule Time for Yourself - This seems to be one of the hardest things for most people to do. It's also the last thing on most people's list. You have to take time for yourself even if it is only an hour here or there. It could be something as simple as just taking an hour to read your book for an hour or going on a run. No matter what you do, the goal is to take "some" time for yourself.
5) Prioritize - The key to finding balance is the ability to prioritize. You have to realistically know what needs to be done first and what can be pushed back to a later time.
6) The Art of Saying "No" - We often want to please others and so we take on more and more because someone has asked us to. By doing so you are throwing your life out of balance because sooner or later you're going to have too much to do and not enough time in the day to do it. Sooner or later you have to say no to some things in order to keep your life balanced and happy.
7) One Thing at a Time - Multitasking was once seen as the way to get things done but realistically it's easier to focus on one thing; finish it and then move on to the next thing. In some cases multitasking can be distracting. So stay on task, finish it and then move on to something else.
If you don't have a sense of harmony between your personal and professional life things can take a toll on you mentally and physically. Taking simple approaches like those listed above can help you get your life balanced out so that you can be productive at work and have fun with your family and friends.
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