Tip the work-life balance in your favour
5 things you can do to get a better balance
Getting a balance of 8 hours work, 8 hours rest and 8 hours play may be hard to do these days, especially if you have a demanding job. But swinging an hour or two either way is a great goal. And even just half hour of daily ‘me time’ or another 40 minutes sleep can help harmonise your home life and work wonders for your performance at work.
If you find work is taking over from your personal life as your main focus, it may be time to step back and evaluate your priorities before one detrimentally affects the other. Consistently putting work before your relationships and personal business can backfire, as unresolved marital, financial or legal problems can do your head in, making it very hard to concentrate on your job.
To achieve balance, first take a long, hard look at your priorities and set boundaries. Be realistic about what you can and can’t do in both the short and the long term.
Think through the issues and try to see the big picture for what it is. There are several reasons today’s workers are taking their work home with them, or even on holiday:
• Globalisation. If you work for an international organisation you might be on call 24/7 for troubleshooting or consulting with colleagues during their day and your nighttime.
• Communication technology. People can work anywhere these days, from home, their car and even on holiday. And some managers expect that. And some workers find it hard to switch off their devices even when they’re at the beach or a party for fear they’ll miss something or be seen to be slacking off.
• Longer hours. It’s not unusual for employees to work extra hours and overtime may even be mandatory. If you’re working your way up the ladder, putting in the hard yards helps keep on tops of things and a step ahead of rivals.
• Changes in family roles. Dual-career couples can struggle to keep up with home, spouse, parents, friends and children. Especially if there are expectations of some traditional role-playing – such as he thinks housework and childcare is her job while she expects him to do home maintenance and take care of the car. Problem is, there isn’t enough time in the day for either person to do anything but their fulltime job, eat and sleep
If you are up against any of these challenges, you’ll understand how easy it is for work to overtake your personal life.
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1. Push back
Learn to say no at work when you’ve already got a full schedule. It’s far smarter to do one project extremely well than two poorly. As well as being good for your career – you’ll be remembered for the outstanding work, not the mediocre - you won’t suffer overload stress and you’ll be more focused, relaxed and clear-headed both at work and after hours.
2. Pace yourself
Be realistic about how much time you need to do a job well. Negotiate timelines and deadlines in your favour and according to your capacity. Be honest about how much time you need, and allow room for delays, reviews, to correct mistakes or address oversights, and have a lunch at least once a week.
3. Don’t try to do it all
Prioritise both your work and personal tasks. If that means delegating chores to others, do it.
At work, ask support staff to do your legwork. That’s what they’re there for. Keep in mind that more junior colleagues might jump at the opportunity to help you and get involved in an important project.
On the home front, get a cleaner so you can catch up on personal business or to do something enjoyable or therapeutic instead of scrubbing the bathroom, ironing or vacuuming.
4. Make good use of your time
At home turn off the TV and write emails, prepare for the next day’s work, or go for a stroll with your partner to discuss the day’s issues - having a sounding board can clarify your thinking and two heads are better than one for coming up with strategies for dealing with problems.
Use lunchbreaks or the walk back from a meeting to do your personal shopping. Do one big weekly grocery shop in the evening early in the week when the supermarkets are quiet and you can get in and out quickly. Use the bus or train commute to send ‘txts’ to friends and family.
If driving, listen to pod casts, get a hands-free kit for you mobile so you can catch up on calls, or simply have a think.
If you travel for work, aim to do plane trips and drives during work hours, not on your time. However, if your destination is somewhere interesting, why not time the trip so you can stay there for the weekend and perhaps get your partner or a friend to join you?
5. Define the boundaries
If you need to do work at home, allocate specific times; such as early Saturday morning or after you’ve had dinner on a weekday. Get it out of the way so you can kick back and enjoy your personal time. Even small things can help, such as getting changed into ‘home clothes’ as soon as you walk in the door. Lastly, avoid making meetings late in the afternoon, especially on Fridays!
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