The Macmillan Dictionary describes work-life balance as “the relationship between the amount of time and effort that someone gives to work and the amount that they give to other aspects of life, such as their family.”
However, that relationship doesn’t imply spending equal amount of time on a professional and personal aspect of your life. We aren’t robots, and it’s not how life works. More importantly, work-life balance is an individual concept. We are all different, and we have various priorities in our lives. That said, our preferences and priorities may change over time, so work-life balance isn’t set in stone.
Still, there are two constant concepts behind perfect work-life balance: achievement and enjoyment. They represent the answer to the great question “Why?”
Now take a second to think why you want to achieve work-life balance.
This answer will give you fuel to get your life in order and fulfill it with things that matter to you.
This is the first step; the next one is more challenging, but bear with me. It’s time to act and learn how to achieve work-life balance in your life.
Draw some boundaries
For starters, make a list of things that are truly important to you. It can be spending time with family and friends, exercising, or anything that makes you happy.
Then, draw some boundaries that will protect the time you devote to activities and people you love. In other words, determine who and what wastes your time and energy. Do you spend too much time on the Internet or social networks? Set a specific time in a day for browsing. Coffee with an emotional vampire? Politely refuse.
There is a solution to every problem. The key is to give your attention and time to people and activities that fulfill you. Just be constant.
Manage your time wisely
It’s crucial to plan your every day if you want to achieve work-life balance. That way, you’ll be in charge of your time and control it; otherwise random events and people will manage your time for you.
Hence, in the evening make plans for the next day and write down how you’ll spend your work and free time in a paper planner with time slots. Make sure you dedicate each time slot to some meaningful activity or relationship. Also, if you are a digital person, you can use Google Calendar app.
“Either you run the day or the day runs you.” – Jim Rohn
Take small steps
Now you’re probably enthusiastic, and you want to start making drastic changes right away. You maybe plan to go to the gym every day, to stop bringing work home, to spend quality time with your family every evening and the list goes on.
Keep your enthusiasm, just take small steps. For instance, go to the gym twice a week, decrease the amount of work you bring home or spend one evening with your family.
As a result, you won’t be overwhelmed so it will be easier to integrate new habits into your life.
What small step can you do today to become closer to reaching work-life balance? Do it as soon as possible.
Work-life balance isn’t a myth
It’s possible to achieve work-life balance, and you’ll hear first-hand impressions from Catherine, a writer at AssignmentMasters:
“At the beginning, it was difficult to learn to plan my activities, to say no to some people and acquire a new lifestyle. But, it really paid off! Now I’m super productive and manage to finish all the tasks that I’ve planned. It’s such a great and rewarding feeling that motivates me to face any challenge. Likewise, I feel like I have more free time. The best part is that now my life is fulfilled with things I like to do and people who inspire me which makes me so happy.
Final thoughts
As you can see, work-life balance isn’t just a myth. With proper motivation and awareness on what you want to include or exclude from your world, as well as consistency, you can get your professional and private life in order.
As a consequence, you’ll open the door to achievement and enjoyment which will improve the quality of your overall life.
Sara Williams is an editor, journalist, writer from San Jose. She likes to read the world classics and traveling. Almost all spare time she spares to reading. Meet her on Linkedin and Twitter
