Discovering Work Life Balance
“There is no perfect, one-size fits all, balance you should be striving for. The best work-life balance is different for each of us because we all have different priorities and different lives.”
~Jim Bird, author of Redefining Work-Life Balance
A combination of factors go into determining desirable work-life outcomes. Core values, personal motivators, learning styles and recreational outlets are different depending on who you ask. Even then, the results are subject to change.
Your work-life balance will look different in the different seasons of your life. As an entry level employee what you consider successful work-life balance will change after you become settled in a job position. It continues to transform even later if you marry, have a family, and are nearing retirement.
Establishing work-life balance is not finding an exact 50/50 split between work and leisure. That split does not exist. But you can at least strive to maintain a balance. Sometimes work and leisure crossover and that is understandable and acceptable. When you are able to find an appropriate balance, you will be able to experience work and leisure in more fulfilling ways.
Although factors for work-life balance vary from person to person, understanding what you enjoy and where you find achievement can help indicate how you best define and achieve work-life balance in your own life.
Achievement vs Enjoyment
When you evaluate your daily achievement and enjoyment, you are better able to identify your level of work-life balance.
Achievement is a measure of success you can quantify. Are you meeting your work goals? Marking off tasks from a checklist allows you to visually see your accomplishments. Are you growing on a personal level? Pursue opportunities that compliment your development like continuing education degrees or certifications.
Enjoyment focuses on the things that bring you delight. Think of the treat yourself motto. Incorporating simple pleasures to daily routines helps maintain a positive perspective and build stamina for whatever mundane tasks your work may require.
Be mindful that achievement and enjoyment are a packaged deal and there should be a balance of both in your life. Leaning too far to one side of the scale can produce negative results. Focusing only on your achievements at work, home and in your personal life can lead to burnout. Without enjoyment, the greatest achievements will leave you with an emotional void.
The concepts of achievement and enjoyment should be applied to the different areas of your life: work, family, friends and self. Take a mental assessment of your achievement and enjoyment tanks for each of these areas. Find imbalances and figure out ways to restructure your focus.
Urgent vs Important
The Eisenhower Decision Matrix is a useful prioritization method. The matrix identifies and separates various activities into four categories:
- Urgent-important (things that need to be dealt with immediately)
- Not urgent-important (things that need to be planned for)
- Urgent-not important (time sucks that are a results of poor planning)
- Not urgent- not important (trivial time wasters)
By determining the urgent versus the important and the things that fall in between, you are better able to use your time to reach achievement in work and incorporate personal enjoyment throughout the day.
Pro-Tip: Don’t cheat yourself on vacation days. A study taken in 2017 from the U.S. Travel Association showed that 52 percent of Americans didn’t use all of their vacation days.
Millions of dollars in benefits are lost every year. Don’t be fearful of falling behind on your workload. Not only are vacations are beneficial to your personal health, they are proven to increase productivity at work. Mental Floss comprised a surprising list of 11 hidden benefits that vacations offer here.
Work-life balance can seemingly become less of an option when you are the one calling the shots and things literally don’t function without you. Whether you are a startup business or you are expanding to a larger market, implementing effective work-life balance is critical at every stage.
Delegation can be a powerful skill to help achieve the goal of maintaining work-life balance. You should look for trusted and credible partners like BreveCo Marketing that will effortlessly take on tasks that are specific to your business needs- allowing you to incorporate work-life balance practices into your everyday routine.
Check out our website and let us show you how our services can provide the relief you need to ensure you experience maximum success and satisfaction both with your business and in your personal life.
Great content! Super high-quality! Keep it up! 🙂