Work-Life Balance
Creating Boundaries For You To Follow
Balance is not better time management, but better boundary management.
Balance means making choices and enjoying those choices.
—Betsy Jacobson
Making choices and enjoying those choices—that’s a scenario that worth aiming for! Let’s learn how we can achieve that by breaking the process down into steps. Personal coach Laura Berman Fortgang has her clients take a couple days off from work to think about the following questions:
1. If my life could focus on one thing and one thing only, what would that be?
2. If I could add a second thing, what would that be?
3. A third?
4. A fourth?
5. A fifth?
I’m going to assume you don’t have a couple days free, so grab a blank piece of paper right now and put down the 5 most important items. Then think about them and rearrange them if necessary. They will probably include some of these:
Family
Career/Job
Friends
Community
Church/Spirituality
Travel
Hobbies
Art/Culture
Sports
Health
Drop Unnecessary Activities
You know those annoying activities that keep popping up, and you keep doing, but are droppable none-the-less. Drop them! Drop them especially fast if they don’t pertain to your top 5 list.
Protect You Work Time & Your Private Time
Set boundaries for your workday. For instance, you may decide that you will not arrive at work before a certain time and you won’t work later than a specific hour. I advise you to consider that you won’t work through lunch. Schedule your lunchtime just like any appointment. Decide day by day whether it will be for your relaxation, your socialization, or perhaps for the chance to court a new client or business opportunity . . . while you eat.
Don’t try to justify your private time to others. You know you need time for yourself—so, schedule it in.
Set 2 Goals Every Day
Make sure that your schedule is set so there is at least one thing you will be proud you achieved and one thing you know you’ll enjoy—every day.
Here’s the tip for the week.
Tip:
I want you to get creative with the second half of the work-life balance issue—the life half. Think of a deal you can make with one of your friends to gain more time in your personal life. For example, “If you take my kids to and from soccer, I’ll make a double-size dinner on Wednesdays and you can pick it up on your way home.” You get the idea. It’s bartering with winners on both sides. Let me know your creative ideas! I’ll share them with our audience.
Further Reading:
Podcast, Working in Heels, by Nancy Clark, Time Management By Delegation —Get A Handle On Time By Delegating
Blog, Women’s Lunch Talk, by Nancy Clark, Women Need To Learn Perfection Is Not A Good Thing —Save Precious Time: Avoid Perfection
Website, WomensMedia, by Brenda Wilkins, The Reality of Work-Life Balance —Join the Journey
Podcast, Working in Heels, by Nancy Clark, Learn How To Say “No” Like You Mean It
—Get Rid Of The “Shoulds” And Say “No” Without Guilt!
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