Tips for Achieving and Maintaining Work-Life Balance

 

Being an Author and Blogger all my friends and family thinks that everyday is a party but going to events, creating creative images for social media, etc is WORK and sometimes if you don't hit the pause button and evaluate things you can become stuck in constant work mode and ultimately become burned out.

So I'm sharing these tips from entrepreneur.com because they really helped me out a lot!

1. Be open about your needs: The first thing people need to do is identify what truly matters to them and communicate it. Don’t hide it and don’t expect others to guess what makes you feel balanced and fulfilled.

2. Respect boundaries: You cannot achieve your balance if you don’t respect the boundaries you have put in place. It will be hard in the beginning but you need to stick with it so you develop a routine and drive a culture and lifestyle of predictability. You will find that there is also something else you can do. There is always another email to reply to or a problem to work, but you need to PERSONALLY respect your boundaries. If you don’t then you can't expect others to respect them. 

3. Understand what really matters: Over the years I have seen too many people spend too much time working on things that don’t really matter. Time is the most valuable commodity in life: it is the one thing you cannot buy more of. So, don’t waste time. Focus on what really matters. What really moves the needle for the business? Are you working on priorities that drive the overall goals of the business or are you just making noise? Really scrutinize your day and max it out every hour, minute and second to focus on the most important outputs. For some this may require a high degree of planning and structure.

4. Embrace the off button:  Pretty much every piece of technology has an off button, so use it. It is not easy and for many people this is the hardest thing to do. To get started, do it in phases. Don’t bring your cellphone to the dinner table. When you are on vacation, be on vacation. Don’t bring your tablet to the beach. Once you have done it a few times, it is easier to push the boundaries. When you unplug and step back you will start to experience one of life’s greatest treasures -- perspective. You will think about problems you are wrestling with greater clarity

5. Go out and have fun: I'm guilty of becoming so engulfed in my work that I have missed out on a lot of things. I have made a conscious decision to STOP what I'm doing at LEAST once a week and do things I like and reconnect with my friends and family.

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