Whether you are man or a woman, work-life balance wouldn’t sound like something you need to worry about until you have spent a good decade of your youth in a workaholic daze. Thanks to the passion and the high of having a job that pays well, most of us don’t notice that we have slipped into a work-heavy routine with little to no room for having a personal life. But there are a lot of little ways in which you can improve your work-life balance with ease.
Plan your week out well
Planning your week will help you streamline everything you need to get done both in your personal life as well as at work. While impromptu office meetings and last minute “urgent” work is hard to account for in such a schedule, a well planned out week will help you remember important family and personal events and chores so you won’t be scrambling to find a co-worker that would stand in for you while you rush to your kid’s soccer match!
Keep score
Once you have learnt how to plan a balanced weekly schedule, you need to master the art of prioritizing. This is called the “keeping score” approach. And what this basically requires is that you place more importance to a work or personal event according to the gravity of the situation. Instead of always being the one that cancels on personal plans to get work done or being the person that is always bailing on work to meet personal commitments, try to keep score of whether you gave importance to work or a personal commitment the last time you had to choose between the two. You can also try keeping score more literally and draw a chart like “work life” and score like a soccer game to keep track of it.
Get a little “me time” everyday
Most people that are struggling to balance life and work often fail to realize how important it is to have at least some “me time” each day. Even if this “me time” is something like you indulging in a smoke during your visit to the loo in the morning or singing while you drive to work or even reading a short story every night before bed, having a ritual that allows you to be by yourself, with your thoughts or a hobby or activity that is dear to your heart will keep you feeling centered. It will also prevent the confusion and sense of feeling overwhelmed that you feel when you don’t get any time for yourself.
