5 Tips on How to Have a Work-life Balance

“With power comes great responsibility. “This is the famous statement from one of the Spiderman movies. Well, how does this apply to having a work-life balance?

The more successful your career is, the more responsibilities you are going to have. If you are aiming for a bigger income you must work harder, may it be as an employee or employer. Moreover, the higher your position is, the more tasks you need to handle and it will require more effort and time from you.

How much more if you have more than one profession? Let us say you have your daytime career and at the same time you are having sidelines or part-time jobs. Of course this means more to be focused on—and definitely more pressure. Surely, all your jobs would demand quality from you. If you could not balance your jobs well, it is either you would be kicked out from one of them or you would lose them all. Therefore, you should learn to juggle your career life if you want to be an effective worker.

However, the challenge with having a bigger work position or more than one job is that you sacrifice the rest of your life. You will be exerting more time and effort in your career to the extent of losing rooms for your social life, recreation, and even yourself. If this happens, earning much would not be that fulfilling anymore.

If you would like to be a responsible worker and at the same time a happy person, you need to achieve a work-life balance. How can you do this? Below are 5 tips on how to achieve it.

 

1. Organize your priorities

A busy work life means lesser time for other stuff. Since you have lots of responsibilities, you need to know your priorities in order to give more time to the important things. Therefore, you should sort out all the things that you do in your life, including your hobbies. Then, you should rank them according to their value to you. By doing so, you can see which needs to be allotted with more time and which can be sacrificed in case of time shortage.

 

2. Set your work schedules

Now take a look at your work schedules. In a week how many days do you go to the office? In a day, how long do you stay in the workplace? Then, in each day, how many works do you need to do? What are the specific jobs you must work on? Are meetings and other appointments included in your working time? Or if you have various jobs, how much time do you allot to each of them? Are they not conflicting with each other?

You need to determine the required time for each of your responsibilities. This is essential to ensure that there will be no conflict as you try to fit all your schedules. Also, by knowing the time consumption of every responsibility, you can know how to plan, prioritize and manage your schedules.

 

3. Know where to put your social life

Maybe you are wondering why this is included here. Well, as what has been mentioned earlier, one of the challenges of having a busy career life is losing time for other important things in life—and  these include your loved ones. Your family, friends and the other important people in your life should not be taken for granted just to make way for more bucks. Without these people you would not feel complete. What’s more, being with your loved ones can help take your work stress away. For these reasons, you should make sure to find a time for them.

You do not need lots of time to spend for your social life. At least you should have it with them once in a while. For instance, since the rest day is supposedly a family day, you should make an effort to bond with them in that day like going out for dinner or a movie. If you cannot do this always, you can just spend quality time with them at home, such as having coffee late in the afternoon with your parents and having chit-chat with your siblings while playing badminton with them. As for your friends, you should set a date with them at least once a month just to keep with each other up. You can also update and communicate with them through the phone or social networking sites, like Facebook and Twitter. Keeping these special people within your reach can make you feel that you are really still existing.

 

4. Have a time for yourself

No matter how big your monthly income is if you are sickly, stressed, and bored, you cannot enjoy your life. You should realize that your work is for your life and not the other way around. Your goal of earning is to support yourself and not suffer from the lack of basic needs. However, if you would let your work control your life to the point that you have no more time to pamper or enjoy yourself, your job becomes a prison cell.

Therefore, see to it that somehow you still have time to take care of yourself and do recreational activities. As much as possible, make sure that you do not sacrifice your health. Be sure that you have a balanced diet and you get enough sleep. Take time also to pamper yourself like going to spa at least once a month or shop right after your pay day. You should also give even just a small time to your hobbies so you can be released from stress.

 

5. Make a timetable

Now that you already know your priorities and work schedules, and you have set a time for your social life, it is advisable that you establish them by putting them in a timetable. Through this way, you can be reminded of your specific schedules and to-do-list for each day. This can also help you see your time management plan clearly. Moreover, you need discipline to follow this timetable successfully.

 

Final thoughts

Having a work-life balance can also mean a balanced life as a whole. No matter how big or how many your responsibilities are, you should not forget that your life is not only about work. Without giving value to your other priorities, you cannot have a holistic success.