Wikipedia describes ‘Work-life balance as a broad concept including proper prioritizing between "work" (career and ambition) on one hand and "life" (pleasure, leisure, family and spiritual development) on the other.’ ‘Achieving work/life balance means having equilibrium among all the priorities in your life – this state of balance is different for every person’. However, as difficult as work/life balance is to define, most of you know when you’re out of balance: ‘you can barely get through the day; before making it to the end of the week, you are exhausted; you are on the merry-go-round of life and just wanting to get off; you are falling behind and feel like you cannot catch up’. Now comes the difficult part! What do you need to find balance in these areas? What needs to change? What could be the challenges? What support do you need? Where could you start? People who enjoy a healthy work life balance usually: ‘enjoy good physical health and have good mental health; feel successful (are self-confident and believe in their capabilities); have a purpose and believe in creating meaning in their lives; feel they are in control of their lives, believe the decisions they make affect their future; are aware of what they can and cannot control in their lives’. Many people today are too busy making a living that they don't have time to live their life. How can you continue down the same path and attain the changes you really want in your life? Do you have a positive mental attitude? Could choosing it help you make better choices? Achieving work life balance could mean you need to choose an attitude and develop skills and behaviors that support you in your choices. What are useful habits and choices that you need to adopt to attain your work life balance? The majority of you “get” the concept of balance and I also find that most of you know all the possible “actions” that can be taken—so, why do you continue to need to read about it? I can only presume that you have not yet “found it”, even though you “know it”. Is the most important breakthrough for you truly coming from some meaningful reframing of the concept? For example, do you believe that that balance is a flawed concept... that it connotes equilibrium achieved through compromise and trade-off? If so, this mental model may be your Achilles’ heel in your inability to achieving it. Do you view balance as something that is achieved through a static fulcrum? Moving the fulcrum could be a powerful way to reframe the concept of balance.
Going beyond the right—left fulcrum shift, a very powerful balance technique one of my colleague uses in his work is to “elevate the fulcrum”... or, in other words, taking our view to a new level. Perhaps “more is possible” on all dimensions and tradeoffs are not as they first appear. The question being, what would it take to get more from A “and” B? Work life balance is personal – ‘one person’s balance might be another’s lost cause’! What if you began by focusing on what is important to you, and what could you need to take it to the next level? If you are not as successful as you'd like to be, notice what’s stopping you from achieving the shift. With a great positive attitude we can make great choices! We all know the areas we are spending too much time on or not enough on, where we are making great choices and bad ones. Begin with looking at what you need to Stop doing - Start doing - Continue doing (S-S-C Model). On this S-S-C model, evaluate yourself in the areas in your life that have meaning, for example: purpose, vision, work schedule, sleep patterns, eating habits, exercise regime, time with family, time with partner, time with friends, self-care time, values, integrity, boundaries, standards, support system, community involvement, etc…. Use a wheel of life and plot your score on each one of your areas on a scale of 1-10. Your results will show you where you may want to start to focus. Here is a sample one.
As a coach, I find myself wanting to leave you with some discovery questions: How can you have a positive approach to work life balance and be able to accomplish everything you need in all of these areas? What is working for you? How are you living in line with your values? How strong are your boundaries? How effective is your support system? How are you managing your time? How are you celebrating your successes? What’s really important to you? How confident do you feel that you could achieve your work life balance? For those of you that work well with tips, here are some that could support you to ‘get started’ in your goal to achieving work life balance: Inspire a positive mental attitude in all the choices you are making! Nurture your Vision and pursue your passion – whatever it is - own it and be disciplined about it! See every occasion in your life as positive - even negative experiences offer learning! Start and end your day in gratitude! Set time aside each week for exercise! Set time aside for self care - go to bed earlier or get up earlier – giving you extra personal time! Keep a journal - it will help you on a regular basis to stay focused on what is important to you! When confronted with a choice, ask yourself what the implications are or what will it add to your life? Eliminate obstacles and barriers, including people and things that are holding you back! Surround yourself with positive people – you will be happier and get more done! Find things that make you happy and do more of them! Stop activities that are not productive or not a priority! Get Support - Let others help you. Your partner, children, boss, employees! Tell them what you want from them! Schedule time for fun activities, whether that is with your partner, family or on your own. Have Fun! Build Confidence in yourself– be assertive and know to choose what you want! Extend your boundaries and raise your standards! Use time management techniques to help you focus on what is important at work and home! Leave work at work and home at home! Live in the moment and simplify everything in your life! Trust yourself…you can do it! GROW A MEANINGFUL LIFE, NOT JUST A LIFESTYLE - In the end you need to find the right balance that works for you. Start small and celebrate your successes and don't dwell on your failures. Life is a process, and so is striving for balance in your life!
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Tina Dias Owner of Tina Dias Life Design, an ICF Certified Executive/Business/Life Coach, Trainer and Retreat Leader Full Profile & Contact Information...
