“Women need real moments of solitude and self-reflection to balance out how much of ourselves we give away.” — Barbara De Angelis
We all know that the better you look after yourself the more energy you have to share with others, so how do we balance all of the roles and responsibilities? Here are brief tips on how to create work/life balance:
1. Be in the moment: Avoid thinking of what you have to do or need to do by giving 100% of your attention to the moment. Create to-do lists and clear your mind through deep breathing so that you can focus in the moment.
2. Clarify Expectations: Ask your family what they need from you – you may be surprised and be placing unrealistic and even untrue demands on yourself. Ask for objective feedback from your manager or review your job description to clarify that you are working on task and within or exceeding the expectations at work.
3. Create Intentions: Focus your behaviour be clarifying what it is that you are trying to create or achieve each day.
4. Get clear on how you spend your time: Write out a list of activities in typical and ideal day and week and then compare. Make a list of things that bring positive energy into your life and a list of things that take energy away from you. Prioritize and develop a new schedule based on the outcome of this comparson.
5. Pencil yourself in with some YOU time. By making yourself a priority will send out the message to yourself and others that your time is important. And don’t be too hard on yourself if this takes a while, have fun with it and it will become easier 🙂
6. Establish Boundaries: Talk with your family about your work and explain what you need. If necessary, talk with your manager and review your job. Consider accessing employee assistance programs or if you could create something to assist in solving the work/life balance issue in your workplace. You are likely not alone..
Other options: consider reducing your workload by researching whether job sharing, flex time or part time work is available or soliciting help from friends, family or hire help for home issues.
“Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perfomr better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance.” — Brian Tracy
Best wishes to you today!
Kelly McIntyre M.Sc.
