4 techniques to achieve work/life balance–or at least get closer!

Do you feel out of control? Do you have difficulty balancing the different roles in your life? If so, you’re not alone – 58% of Canadians report “overload” as a result of the pressures associated with work, home and family, friends, physical health, volunteer and community service.

If you are often tired, overwhelmed, pressured, guilty and have difficulty focusing you might be like the majority of Canadians who do not have balance in their lives.

Balance is not about spending the perfect slice of time on all of your roles each day. Balance is being satisfied with the mix of your family, work & life obligations over a month or quarter.

To get control over your life:

1. Know your priorities – Spend time determining what is most important to you. Create a life plan, discuss expectations of each other with your family, and create performance goals at work. If you don’t have a life plan read my life planning book: "Get Me Off the Treadmill!"

2. Accept that priorities shift – No matter how good you are at making plans, things will happen throughout the year that will impact your goals. A newly announced computer system might mean that you will be spending more time in meetings to create specs and therefore, can’t do everything you were planning on doing. When I was diagnosed with cancer, I took a long look at my exercise and eating patterns and made radical changes.

3. Manage your time – Plan each day to get the important tasks completed first. Don’t get sidetracked with emails and electronics. Turn them off and only check them at scheduled times.

4. Say no – Don’t say yes to every request. Be clear on what is important in your life and job and say no to things that aren’t in alignment with those goals. It might be difficult to turn down a friend or valuable non-profit but you’ve got to make difficult choices to stay in balance.

You might not achieve perfect balance in the first month, but over time you can get closer to work/life balance by using these techniques consistently.

Want to talk about balance? I’d love to connect: Valerie.MacLeod@HainesCentre.com