how do you manage work life balance

How do you manage work-life balance

 

When talking about work-life balance, we usually mean imbalance. Work-life balance as a term was first mentioned in the UK at the end of the 1970s, in the US it popped up in 1986.

Work-life balance

What we mean by work seems quite obvious. What we mean by life becomes more clouded. When initially the idea was that life was referring to leisure as in free-time and recreational activities or lifestyle.

But what if you are a professional and a mum who runs the house and social life of all family members? Is that categorised as leisure and lifestyle, when it is actually as much hard work as is the job?

The 7 top areas that challenge work-life balance in a professional and personal environment are:

1. Ridiculous demands

Blame the boss, the project or the re-organisation but bottom-line is that out of office hour meetings, conference calls and emails take up more time than your agreed number of working hours.

Blame the kid’s sports activities, their popularity and therefor all the birthday parties they have to attend or your partner’s ongoing man-flu. Whatever it is, the implication is that you are spending your time accommodating others.

2. No control

You can’t control the workload, the success of your company or the health of your spouse. You are powerless, while your time is been taken up. It is frustrating and stressful.

3. Shxx relationships

The people around you will have a massive impact on how easy it is for you to cope. Unsupportive relationships at work and at home create a feeling of isolation and it is tiring, frustrating and taking out bags of energy.

4. No resources

No PA, no private space at home or no babysitter are making life even more demanding. Because who takes the consequences of that lack of resources? Of course, that is you. Creating solutions for impossible situations.

5. Hopeless attitude

When energy levels are low, when you feel on your own and carrying the full range, it is difficult to find the positive attitude that will get you through. Resilience has gone on holiday and you are stuck with the day-to-day ‘needs to be done’ and ‘I have got no choice’ stuff.

6. Lacking skills

Survival requires skills like clever communication and delegation skills. Delegation helps a lot because you are not an expert in everything and when you delegate the work to experts, you get better results in less time. Keeping yourself healthy and happy requires skills like setting boundaries and looking after yourself. Who has trained you in those?

7. High-stress levels

All the above challenges can appear in anybody’s life and will add to stress levels. Not being able to handle stress will kill any chance of a healthy work-life balance. Stress can be paralysing and make ME time impossible.

If you recognise your situation, even remotely, you will benefit from my ebook

By creating 30 minutes of time for yourself each day.

Joke? Find out for yourself and order the FREE ebook that takes you through the process.

Why?  ‘I loved the steps in your book. Really eye-opening and it was easy for me to make changes. I have made important changes, but sometimes I have to pick it up as a refresher. It saved my sanity.’    Marie – London

Changing your mindset will benefit your situation, but sometimes it is time to change your job as well. Why not do both?

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