Balancing Work, Family, Friends And More
Consider 8 Aspects In Your Work-Life Balance
Balancing all aspects of your life is not about running harder and faster. It’s about realizing the following:
- There’s only a limited amount of time each day when you’re awake and functioning.
- It’s not good to concentrate on only one thing, such as work–you’d be neglecting family and friends.
- Perfection is not always good, and is often a waste of time.
- And, there are a number of areas where your attention is needed.
So what are the areas I need to consider when I’m trying to balance my life? It’s a big list. Here are the 8 that are on my list: Family, Friends, Work, Health, Spirituality, Giving Back, Being Selfish, and then there’s Trajectory—which I’ll explain in a minute.
First on my list is Family. I’m a proponent of “When you’re with your family, give them your full attention.” This means no Blackberry on the beach. I know you might consider multitasking a plus, but give it another review and see if you change your mind.
Friends. Schedule get-togethers and phone calls.
Work. Do the most important things on your list each day. Don’t allow guilt over the undone tasks to consume you. Instead, delegate what you can, and then forgive yourself for not having more than 24 hours in a day.
Health. You know what you need to do: Eat better foods, don’t skip meals, exercise, take vitamins, see a doctor and a dentist on a regular schedule—see that’s a simple list. If you’re overweight, you need to change your habits and your choices.
Spirituality. This may be religion for some of you. Do you have a philosophy of life? Does life have meaning for you as part of something larger than you? Work this into your balance of life schedule.
Giving Back. This is my personal add-on: Make the world a little bit better than it would have been without you. It may be by raising a child who is good to others. It may be by tending to an unsightly median strip in your neighborhood. It may be by contributing $25 to a micro-loan program. It’s why I started the website www.WomensMedia.com with 2 friends to help working women succeed.
Being Selfish. Aha, now who could object to that? Time for yourself is a must on your list. Schedule it onto your calendar. Look forward to that time when you look over your plans for the day and the week.
Trajectory. Here’s the one I need to explain. This is similar to a New Year’s resolution for your life’s direction. You get to steer yourself toward goals for family, friends, work, spirituality, giving back, and just being selfish. My Tip of the Week deals with this.
And here it is.
Tip of the Week:
You only have to make 1 decision . . . BUT, you have to make it right now! You have to decide how often you’ll think about your trajectory—I mean, how your life is going. Once a year is not often enough, come on, you agree with that. Decide how often you want to look over those 8 aspects of your life to see if you’re staying on the road you’ve envisioned for yourself. Sometimes unexpected situations or opportunities occur which alert you to the need to redirect your “drive.” I’ve made my decision. I’ve decided that when I see it’s the first day of a month, I’ll pull out my list and quietly look over each aspect and see if I’m falling behind in one, or if my overall direction needs a correction. This shouldn’t make me feel bad. It should make me feel that I’m keeping up with my goal of a mini-correction on the first of every month. How about that? One more thing to feel good about!
Be sure to visit our site, www.WomensMedia.com to get Expert Advice for Working Women.
Further Reading:
Website, WomensMedia, by Madeleine Holman, The Problem of Balance —Is It A Myth?
Blog, Women’s Lunch Talk, by Nancy Clark, How To Get A Handle On Time —Don’t Let Time Ruin Your Work-Life Balance or listen to it here.
Podcast (always about 5 minutes), Working in Heels, by Nancy Clark, Work-Life Balance: Men Are Learning To Share —The Second Shift Is Up For Negotiation
Blog, Women’s Lunch Talk, by Nancy Clark, Power For Women —Successful Women Use Power Differently Than Men or listen to it here.
Website, WomensMedia, by Debra Pestrak., How to Balance Your Career and Your Family —So Both are Rewarding and Enjoyable