Work/life balance means something different to everyone and at times is at best an elusive ideal and at worst a complete myth. We all live busy lives. Whether you work for a small company, a large corporate or are running solo.
A whopping 94% of working professionals reported working more than 50 hours per week and nearly half said they worked more than 65 hours per week in a Harvard Business School survey.
By making considered choices about which opportunities you pursue and which you decline, rather than simply reacting to emergencies, you can find try to find some balance in meaningfully engaging with work, family, and community. And you know what, give yourself a break – you can’t do everything, nor should you try
No matter what work/life balance means for you, here are some useful tips that might help!
Let go of perfectionism
A lot of overachievers cultivate perfectionist tendencies at a young age when demands on their time are limited to school, pastimes and maybe an after-school job. It’s easier to maintain that perfectionist habit as a kid, but as you grow up, life gets more complicated.
As you climb the ladder at work and as your family expands, your responsibilities grow. Perfectionism becomes out of reach, and if that habit is left unchecked, it can become damaging.
The key to avoid burning out is to let go of perfectionism and the healthier option is to strive not for perfection, but for excellence. I have a lovely phrase we use a lot which is “progress not perfection” – works well in both our home and business lives!
Unplug
This one is big for me. We regularly completely unplug. Technology has helped our lives in many ways. And I am a big fan. But it has also created expectations of constant accessibility. The work day never seems to end.
So you know what, there are times when you should just shut your phone off and enjoy the moment. Take a day, a whole weekend even to be technology free and see what a difference it makes to the balance.
Phone and computer ‘bings’ with notifications interrupt your off time and inject an undercurrent of stress in your system. So don’t text at your kid’s football game and don’t send work emails while you’re spending time with family.
By not reacting to the updates from ‘work’, you will be developing a stronger habit of resilience and resilient people feel a greater sense of control over their lives, and are less prone to stress.
Make them wait
One way to avoid being incessantly available is to make it clear that you reply to emails within 24 or 48 hours. Make this a rule and stick to it.
You also need to make it clear that you are not endlessly available for work queries outside of ‘normal’ working hours. Admittedly both of these, with the technology at our finger tips, is easier said that done.
Start small. Build from there.
Don’t try and make drastic changes to your work/life balance all at once. If you are always absent from family dinners and you vow to begin attending meals every night you’re soon going to fail.
Start small. Start with one evening a week and when you’ve got that commitment to one night every single week without fail, work it up and before you know it you’ll be at 3 nights a week, then 4 and finally all. If you go for full-on change all at once it is, put simple, a recipe for failure.