How to Find Work-Life Balance

There is a common thought that we all should be striving to have a perfect balance of work and the rest of our life, but the truth is that sometimes one part of our life is “heavier” on that scale than another part, and therefore not balanced.

If, however, you look at this balance idea in a different way, you can create Harmony, which leads to a wonderful calm, peace and joy in your life, which you just might refer to as Balance.

Let me explain.

Do you ever feel like you are thinking about work 24/7, even if you aren’t “working” at those moments? This is very common and can lead to feeling burnt out and overwhelmed. This is especially more prevalent with more women working from home, and splitting time between work and family etc.

On the flip side, do you ever feel that you have so much to do with your home, family, friends, husband/significant other that you can’t figure out how to get it all done, or when you can do things? This is also very common. So, how do you help yourself to get over the overwhelm and find the Harmony between your work and life?

The first thing you need to do is to Stop Multitasking!

You heard me correctly! As women, we sometimes pride ourselves on being able to juggle many things at once. However, when we do that, we can get overwhelmed and we actually accomplish less. If we can learn to focus on one task or project at a time, and then go onto the next thing, we can accomplish whatever it is so much faster.

This doesn’t mean that we won’t still be juggling work and family and self care, BUT it does mean that we should continuously be working towards changing how and when we tackle all we have to do, and strive to be 100% in the moment for whatever it is.

In order to find that Harmony I was talking about, we need to expand on being present in whatever we are doing. For example, when you are doing a project or task for work,

you will want to take away any distractions so that you can get the work done as quickly and efficiently as possible. Be 100% in the task, and you save yourself time, which gives you more time for other work, and then of course, other important things in your life.

A tip you may want to try is setting a timer/alarm for intervals of 20 to 30 minutes. Of course your task or project may need much more time than that, but as humans our attention span for listening to a speech etc is about 18 minutes, so I chose 20 minutes for the timer so as not to automatically get distracted. When you have the timer set, it trains your mind to concentrate on the task at hand, rather than start wandering thinking about all your other to dos, checking Facebook, email, etc. After the timer/alarm goes off, take a 2 minute break (stretch etc) and then set it again until you want to stop.

The 100% present rule is very important when it comes to your personal life too. How many times are you taking a phone call or checking emails when you should be “present” with your spouse, children or friends? Your goal for creating harmony and less overwhelm when you are not at work is to concentrate on experiencing what you are doing with those you care for, and that even means caring for yourself (self care like exercise, reading, spa time etc.).

The reason I refer to this as Harmony instead of Balance is because sometimes work takes precedence and sometimes personal life is the priority of the moment. All are intertwined, but different “instruments” in the orchestra are going to “play louder” than others. (My friend, Brooke Elder, shared this analogy a few years ago.) However, when you think of your life as a symphony, you will start to find that you can make beautiful harmonious music if you practice.

Time Blocking - for both work AND personal life. Set aside blocks of time, use highlighters if you like to separate work/family/self care/etc. Do this over the weekend or last thing on Friday so that you have a framework for the next week.

The 4 D’s: Do it, Delete, Delay, Delegate - These are the tools to help you complete tasks for both work and your personal life.

• DO IT - Are you able and ready to do this project, item etc. If so, start to map out a plan of action

• DELAY - Is this something that absolutely has to be done now, or can you move it to another day or week?

• DELEGATE - Is there a person or a system that you can delegate this task to? IE: for social media posting, a posting app.

• DELETE - Has this been on your to do list for a long time and yet it never gets done? Is it actually something that has to get done, or is it something you even WANT to do?

Now, let’s bring it all together and create that harmonious symphony with your life:

Stop Multitasking

Be 100% Present

Time Block your To Do List

The 4 Ds

Most of all, remember it’s always a work in progress; but if you take small steps (maybe just one of these ideas at first) you can be less overwhelmed and find that “balance” or really “harmony” between your work and life.

Here is an affirmation you may want to start using. I made it and use it as part of my mojo morning routine.

“I am balanced in my life. I am in harmony with my work, my family, my friends, and myself. I am happy and joyful and find peace within the harmony of my life. I know that there really isn’t balance, it’s a harmony of all the facets of my life. It’s like a symphony where some instruments are louder at one part and softer at another part. Yet, together they make beautiful music.”

Here’s to you creating your own beautiful music!