Building work life balance in today’s busy world isn’t always an easy thing to do, we talk about it a lot but do you really know what it actually looks like? To start, you have to know what it is to understand what you need to do or change to get there. Work life balance is term used to describe the balance that an individual needs between time allocated for work and other aspects of life. And as you know, this can be very different with each working woman.
The line between work and home life activity can often be blurry. For some people, their career is their life for others, they know how to shut it down in one area, and turn it on in another. But building work life balance doesn’t have to be just like this. Research has shown that in order to be a more effective employee and less-stressed partner in a relationship, you have to be mindful of how much time you are putting into different things and determine what really is important. There are hundreds of ways to do this, but by focusing on improving in just a few areas, you will have an opportunity to see and feel the changes more quickly.
Stop and think about it for a minute. As you look around your work, you will see that there are some women who simply have it without realizing and only have to tweak a few things to be even more successful, for others, it has to be done with purpose and intent or struggle may ensue. Which type of working woman are you? Which woman do you want to be? Learn how to build your work life balance from these 8 secrets shared by women that have mastered work life balance. Use this to start your journey to being a better working woman.
8 Secrets from Women That Have Mastered Work Life Balance
Secret #1 Hang with non-work Friends
Make your friend circle bigger and focus on building and cultivating relationships with women outside of your work. Join a local social group or a neighborhood activity. Start a wine night. Making friends as a working woman can be challenging. It can be especially difficult if you have children at home, but don’t let the guilt of spending time away from your own family for a few hours stop you from connecting to women outside of your work day. Work friends are great, but to truly disconnect, build work life balance and find women that will support you but don’t actually work with you.
Related: 5 Easy Ways to Incorporate Friendship Into Your Busy Week
Secret #2 Delegation of Tasks
One of the more difficult things to do is to recognize that you need help and then TRUST someone to help you with specific tasks that you don’t have the time or even the knowledge to do well. When you delegate tasks, start small and set expectations of what you expect upon completion. People can’t read minds. By delegating tasks and setting expectations, you are only further empowering your team to do better. Trust goes a long way at work and is reciprocal. Make sure that you are using your team members to their fullest potential while reducing the stress-level on your own plate. Effective and positive communication is vital for delegation success.
Secret #3 Always Use All Vacation Days
Using your own paid time for yourself is not a bad thing. Often times, people pride themselves on never taking a day off or having so much vacation time left over. It is great to be committed to your work, but by not taking time off, you never get a full chance to recharge and return to work to be even more effective. If your company gives you vacation time, USE THAT TIME. Be mindful and make sure that you share with your employer when you plan on using it and especially look at the tasks that will need to be done before you go. Taking time for yourself (time that already belongs to you) will only help you build work life balance in a positive way.
Secret #4 Learn to Make Lists
This one of the most effective ways to ‘clear’ your mind and realign your focus whether you are at work or at home. At work, you can create a list each day of things to do, projects to complete, people to call or email etc. At home, you can create lists to plan out meals for the week, remember to pack things, prep for activities or events. Using apps such as Google Keep, you can create lists and them share the with others. By creating list, you are effectively removing all the ‘I need to remember’ thoughts in your head and learning how to group tasks together more efficiently. Find work life balance by listing to take out the guess-work and trying remember all parts of your life each and every day.
Related: Feeling Overwhelmed? Make a list.
Secret #5 Limit Distractions and Time Wasters
Distractions and time wasters are all over whether you are at work or at home. From social media (a big culprit) to the office gossips, avoid loosing time and valuable mental stability by being intentful with your time at work. Turn your phone over or remove notifications on your home screen if you are struggling with staying away from social media. Politely excuse yourself when the office gossip starts up both time-wasting and emotionally draining! Learn how to ‘time manage’ task by setting timers for completing emails, working on a project or spending time on social media so you have time to do things that are more important to you.
Secret #6 Learn To Use A Healthy Stress-relief Technique
There are many ways that we can combat stress. From exercise to meditation, you have to find a strategy that works for you. Sometimes we use unhealthy ways as stress-relief such as eating sweets or candy or always turning to a drink when you get home. These unhealthy ways are more like a temporary fix. In order to combat stress, you have to find out what exactly is stress you and develop a plan to support relief. If running or vigorous exercise is not your thing, try going online and finding some free Yoga videos or even learn how to cook. Stress will always manifest itself either at work or at home, so find your work life balance by learning how to combat it.
Related: How Do You De-Stress When You Can’t Leave Your Desk
Secret #7 Take a Full Lunch Break
Think about when and where you take a lunch break or do you often let lunch slide right one by? If it is in front of your computer, then you are really still working just eating at the same time. It is important mid day to be able to get up, walk around, eat your lunch then return to activity. You will come back refreshed and with a renewed energy for your task at hand. Also, not eating all day or rushing while you eat will do a number on your blood sugar and health. Keep some snacks at your desk with water, but when it’s time to eat lunch. Actively get up and make that happen.
Secret #8 Prepare and Make Time for You
Self care is a term used frequently when discussing the benefits of personal time. But this is more than just pampering yourself. Making time for you doesn’t just mean that you need to miss work and do spa days (these are fun!), it can be a simple as saying no to an after work activity. Use that time to go home, take a bath, watch Netflix with a glass of wine. Whatever it is for you. The science behind self-care is that it is important to spend time learning how to handle daily psychological injuries (the ones we don’t see) by getting into a routine of taking care of ourselves both physically, mentally and spiritually.
Learn how to establish your own work-life balance by following these 8 secrets from women that have mastered work life balance.
Let me know what works for you in the comments!
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