There is no perfect answer to the key question of how to achieve life/work balance in our lives, but there are a number of ideas and actions that can help you to do more in the areas that are important to you. These ideas often require changes and modifications in the way you think and use your time, but the price is well worth it and will give you more peace of mind.
How To Achieve Life Balance:
1. Know Yourself.. means knowing what you really value, knowing what is really important to you. It is critical for you to organize your life around yourself, rather than to organize yourself around the demands of your outside world.
2. Time Management.. after you have determined your values and the goals that are congruent with those values, you must set your priorities. Make a list of all the tasks that you can possibly do and then select from that list the things that are most important to you.
3. Use Your Time Wisely.. Most people are time wasters. They waste their own time, and they waste your time as well. To be successful and happy, you must discipline yourself to work all the time you work. Don’t allow yourself to waste your valuable time or you will be rushing in order to complete the necessary tasks and this will just add stress to the work day.
4. Have a Plan.. By having a plan, you can follow your progress and decide whether you are achieving your desired goals. Without a plan, you will just end up busy and exhausted.
5. Create Deadlines for Projects.. focus on tasks that follow your plan and help you get closer to your ultimate goal.
6. Ask For Support.. Tell your boss, family, friends, colleagues, and anyone else involved in your life that you are looking to achieve a better work-life balance. Tell them what your plan is, and ask them to respect it.
7. Concentrate On One Thing At A Time.. Don’t try to take on too many tasks at once. It’s very difficult to focus on multiple things at the same time. you will be better served to concentrate on the task at hand. When you are working, work. When you are spending quality time with your family, make them your priority.
8. Be Positive and Surround Yourself With Positive People.. Associate with positive people and don’t tolerate negativity.
If you can’t see the positive side of any situation, try harder and from a different perspective until you see the situation in a positive light. Two great techniques are ‘positive self talk’ and ‘visualization’.
Family Matters:
9. Build Solid Relationships.. Have you created business and personal relationships? Your interaction with family and friends will replenish your personal happiness and energy. Protect these relationships, as they are very valuable and irreplaceable assets.
10. Have a Family Dinner Together As Often As Possible... Despite what you may be doing, dinner time is the ideal time to talk about the events of the day and will forge the family bond.
11. Be Present and Pay Attention.. When you are at home with our family, be present with your family and make them your number one priority.
12. Saturday and Sunday Family Time.. Take a break from work and make the most of your weekend. Spend weekends with your kids and spouse and have fun and create memories.
13. Take a Vacation…You Earned It.. It is very important, if you can manage it, to take at least two weeks off from work per year. It doesn’t matter what you do or where you go, but you do need to recharge your batteries in order to be the best possible YOU.
Try not to turn on your laptop or phone and just relax and enjoy your time away from work.
14. Attend Every Event.. Never miss an event. Make sure to be present for ALL important family occasions and events.
Don’t Neglect Your Spouse:
15. Engage Your Spouse.. This is your life partner, so include your spouse and ask for feedback on important issues and situations at the workplace. Let your spouse know that their opinion is important to you.
16. Help Is On The Way.. If you are working and away from the house and your spouse is home, show them that you can still help to ease their burden. Be sure to obtain services of others to make your spouse more relaxed and energized. Get the help that is necessary.
17. Communicate Frequently.. Talk about the things that matter most in your relationship. Celebrate your successes, but don’t forget to communicate about your frustrations, too. It is all part of a marriage.
Time for yourself:
18. Spend Some Quiet Time.. Carve out at least 15- 20 minutes a day when you can have some quiet time and feel at rest. This will help you to feel refreshed and will also give you the emotional energy for the other important people in your life.
19. Turn Off The Noise.. studies show that watching too much T.V. creates depression. It is a passive activity that won’t give you energy. So, with the television off, you can take time out of your day and do something for YOU! It could be a favorite hobby, reading a good book, listening to music, etc.
20. Learn The Value Of Saying “No”… Don’t give in and agree to every request or demand that comes your way. If it doesn’t fit into your schedule or align with your priorities, don’t overwhelm yourself by taking on more.
21. Rest and Relaxation.. It is important that you get enough rest and relaxation to give your body time to repair itself and give your mind time to re-focus and unwind.
22. Get Enough Sleep.. We all know that if we don’t get enough sleep, we get grouchy and irritable and perhaps don’t perform as well the next day. But, a good night’s sleep allows our body time to repair and time to maintain our muscles and vital organs. Go to bed a half hour early and get up a half hour early – this allows you to carve out additional personal time.
23. Regular Exercise Routine.. Exercising is a must for busy executives and entrepreneurs. Repetitive exercises tend to be the best to help de-stress, such as using a treadmill or eliptical machine. Exercise tires your body giving it the signal to go to sleep to repair itself.
Tip: Don’t exercise immediately before going to bed as your metabolism will still be pumping. Leave at least 2 hours between exercise and bedtime.
24. Reward Yourself.. After challenging yourself to focus on your work-life balance, don’t forget to reward yourself for making an effort to change. Give yourself a treat and you will feel proud every time you look over at your reward and be motivated to keep your new healthy habits.
25. Revisit Your Plan On A Regular Basis.. Make sure to check your plan often to make sure you are working smart and on the right path. Plans are a guide and are not carved in stone.
Evaluate your work-life balance on a regular basis..
Achieving work-life balance is a never-ending journey, and your needs will be different at different times in your life.
Being able to achieve life/work balance will help you get more out of life. Take a pro-active approach to making life choices that you can be proud of.
*** Please SHARE your favorite tip in the comments below. Please SHARE by adding your own suggestion for achieving a work/life balance and help our list to grow, which in turn will help more people to achieve their own balance.
I hope you got some great value out of this post today! Please leave me a comment down below and let me know what you liked the most.
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To your success,
Marc@mlmsuccessmentoring.com
Network Marketing Coach
Continuous Learning Advocate
Skype: healthysuccess
(973) 879-1627
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About Marc Korn
Marc Korn is an advocate of continuous learning. Success online and in the offline world is all about training and learning from the experts.... throughout history the common denominator among successful people has been continuing education.Marc is passionate about Network Marketing and helping others.He has learned that Network Marketing is not about recruit, recruit, recruit or sell, sell, sell...but about people.The most gratifying way to achieve success is to help others become successful first.Marc enjoys introducing people to systems and opportunities that will help them to earn additional income working from home.There is no reason why you need to learn it all by yourself. Join Marc and his Tribe mates to see how they can help you.
Great points there Marc. My biggest takeaways from that list are read a good book (I can do more of that), more sleep and being around positive, helpful people. I think so many people underestimate the value of personal development and being around positive people. I used to veg out in front of the TV but I have come to realise what a waste of time it is and how costly it is to my future. Cheers for sharing that.
@Babis Gakis,
Hey Babis,
Thanks for stopping by and leaving your comment…it is greatly appreciated.
Being around positive people is definitely a key to getting your life in balance and keeping negativity out. TV certainly can be a time drain and quite unproductive.
To your continued success,
Marc
Great tips Marc. Me myself and I have difficult time with wasting time and focusing on one thing at a time. I must get better. Anyway, I enjoyed your post. Thank you for sharing.
Anna Perkins, Affiliate & Network Marketer
@Anna,
Hi Anna,
Thanks for stopping by and leaving your comment.
I’m happy that you enjoyed the post…
There are many distractions out there these days which does make it difficult to focus.
But, it is important to develop that discipline.
To your success,
Marc
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Great tips Marc, in todays world it is sometimes difficult to have an ideal work life balance. Your tips are something to think about and what you can do better to get into a balanced life.
@Bruno Buergi,
Hi Bruno,
Thanks for stopping by and leaving your comment..it is greatly appreciated.
Achieving a work/life balance does present a challenge with all the distractions we face on a daily basis.
But, it is important to set your priorities to have the best balance possible.
To your success,
Marc
Hey Mark
You have the right kind of things on your list…I wish I could do half of them.
Having a house full of kids = Lack of sleep
This is the biggest killer when trying to work online I think.
What’s your experience?
William
@william otoole,
Hi William,
Thanks for stopping by and leaving your comment..it is greatly appreciated.
I agree, lack of sleep is a BIG hurdle and I am still working on that one myself.
It isn’t always easy to find the time to do all that is needed during a typical day.
I have always tried to discipline myself in order to make sure that I get the most important things done first when I have the time and energy.
Having strong time management skills is the key.
To your success,
Marc
Tip #13 – ake a vacation – you earned it is my favorite tip, Marc. For way too many years I worked non-stop desiring that “success” we all stretch for. What I found instead was a burned out, stressed out, sick woman over 50 who now is redefining success one vacation at a time.
@Carla J Gardiner,
Hi Carla,
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment…it is greatly appreciated.
I love it…”redefining success one vacation at a time…
Yes, not only do we need “me” time, but vacation time with family gives us a chance to re-connect with our loved ones and recharge our batteries…
To your continued vacations,
Marc
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I can quite honestly say that I’m guilty as charged as being one of those that doesn’t have a great balance of work and life, I seem to be working none stop and not much else, shame on me.
But I think some of these tips will be useful, specially number 13, I haven’t had a vacation for a few years, so I think I’m over due 😉
@Karen Woodham,
Hi Karen,
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment…it is greatly appreciated.
The first thing we need to do in order to correct an issue is to acknowledge the existence of the problem. So, you are on your way.
Take that vacation…you will be happy that you did…
Just take small steps if need be, but by all means take some positive steps to get that balance back into your life…
We all need time to smell the roses and recharge our batteries.
To your success,
Marc
Marc,
Wow… what an awesome list! Love the very first one “Know thyself” simply because it’s the foundation for everything you do. If you don’t know what your limits are, what you like or don’t like – how can you say “no” and so on .. you always have wonderful information to share …
@Lesly Federici,
Hi Lesley,
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment…it is greatly appreciated.
It is so important to have that balance in your life or that can lead to overwhelm and nothing good comes from that.
Yes, it is vitally important to know your limitations and know how to say “NO” when necessary..
To your continued success,
Marc
Hey Marck this is something i forget to do, reward myself I thing it’s one of the best idea that will help to keep going. Realize what we have done and then celebrate Very good advise. Thanks
@Helene Martin,
Hi Helene,
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment…it is greatly appreciated.
Every achievement or success, no matter how big or how small needs to be celebrated.
If you make the effort to make a change, it is a step in the right direction and you should reward yourself…
To your success,
Marc
Really the best part of the whole list is where you say to make and keep deadlines for yourself. All too often I find myself starting something and then getting distracted. And it didn’t really bother me until the end of the day when I realized I didn’t finish that particular project. I guess its from the Army, if it didn’t have a deadline, it was important enough to get done.
@Clint Butler,
Hi Clint,
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment…it is greatly appreciated.
It is important to be disciplined and to have a plan and always work on our time management skills.
When we have a plan and know what our goals are, it is easier to set deadlines and to make sure that we stay on task…
But, if need be even deadlines can be tweaked and changed.
To your success,
Marc
Hi Marc,
Of the list of guidelines, I struggle most with number 7.
I am still learning that I am not as youthful as I used to be and that my mental and physical capabilities have diminished somewhat. I used to be able to say that I operate better under pressure. Now, pressure is not my friend. I am slowly learning that planning, timing and slow and steady works better at this stage of my life. One thing at a time.
Thanks for the material for reflection.
@Princess Shimari,
Hi Yvonne,
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment…it is greatly appreciated.
#7 is probably the one that most of us struggle with… There is so much that goes on in our daily lives, that we wind up trying to juggle too many things as there are so many distraction that can cause us to lose focus.
So, it is important to develop that discipline and work on our time management skills and eliminate the overwhelm of trying to juggle many things.
Working at your own pace and having a plan and eliminating pressure is a great way to put balance back in your life.
To your continued success,
Marc
Hi Marc
First point – tv over music – I can do that one! And like it often.
As I type this, Gill, my wife is watching tv, I have headphones on, and listening to les mes – again (although it is the film, so I know it is playing to my left, on the lappy – which is a bit of a distraction.)
I don’t do enough down-time – and there is always something to work on!
And that does probably increase the insomnia – although, at times, it is handy, as you can get a night’s work of extra work done!
The last holiday we took, we had a nice week, being toured around the area in Spain we were in, by our hostess, and over the week, I think I relaxed…. and the insomnia possibly got better.
The first night, I was awake all night – and working online (yay for a villa with WiFi!), except I was on a lounger alongside the pool!
I will come back to this list, and see if I have been able to work some of these (that I don’t do) into my routine – and that is the trick, making these routines so we always do it!
Posted by Jon Barry of JonBarry.co.uk
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@Jon Barry,
Hi Jon,
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment…it is greatly appreciated.
So true, you want these things on your list to become a routine, so it is just part of your every day tasks and becomes a habit.
Once you develop the discipline to make some of these changes and do it consistently for a short period of time and see positive results…it will become a habit and you won’t even need to think about it.
To your success,
Marc
I am really amazed with these tips to get life back. These are really true to gain balance in life and work. I thank you personally for posting this. I find it very useful and helpful for me. Keep up the great work Marc! Cheers!
Hi Marc..
Since I decided to cut a few things out and just focus on 2, I’ve been a lot happier! And more productive, less overwhelm.. so it really does make a difference to focus, cut out the stuff that’s not important. Makes a difference…
Hey Marc,
25 Ideas seems to many, but after reading through all .. each and every point seems valid, useful and applicable. When we feel like burning-out with work .. this helps. I really like the concept of a balance lifestyle. Thanks for sharing. Great tips !
Hey Marc,
25 Ideas seems too many, but after reading through all .. each and every point seems valid, useful and applicable. When we feel like burning-out with work .. this helps. I really like the concept of a balance lifestyle. Thanks for sharing. Great tips !
Thanks for this post, Marc. I would add CELEBRATE to the list. I need to get more sleep and rest, too. 🙂
Another excellent blog! As Justin mentioned, 25 ideas seems like a lot, but they’re broken down into categories, which is very useful. I also think that it helps to just work on one or two at a time. Master that, and move on to the next two – and go with those that are most important – prioritize. Thanks again!
Nice post. This post is helpful to people to overcome them from stress. and live their life peacefully ..