Are you feeling burned out? Do you spend all your time at work, or, thinking about work? Sounds like you need some work-life balancing.
How do you know you DON’T have Life-Work balance?
- When you constantly work late, go home, go to bed, wake up, and repeat.
- When you miss your kid’s soccer game, birthday party, or graduation from nursery school because you are working.
- When you procrastinate about decisions in your private life that need to be made – buying life insurance; changing jobs or careers; saving for retirement; visiting colleges; planning a vacation; refinancing your mortgage.
How does work-life balance help your career?
- It keeps you refreshed, preventing burnout. You know the old maxim, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”. When the time comes to retire, are you going to remember all those days at the office, or will you remember the special times spent with family and friends?
- It expands your network of people, enlarging your scope. Joining a group, a class, a choir, a league as part of your weekly routine expands your network.
- It broadens your view of human nature and the world, increasing your knowledge.
How do you get to a work-life balance?
There are three things you need to do for yourself. You need to carve out time each week to:
- Make time to spend with family – spouse, kids, and the significant people in your life. Make a “date night” with your significant other. Plan an activity with your kids. Visit that sick relative in a nursing home.
- Pursue a hobby that takes your mind off work, and requires your complete concentration. It could be playing tennis, making pottery, knitting, bowling, salsa dancing, etc. When I make pottery on the wheel I have to be totally focused on what I am doing, otherwise I cannot center the piece, open the clay, and bring up a wall. I cannot possibly think about anything else.
- Volunteer for a cause greater than yourself. Volunteering gives you a sense of satisfaction and broadens your perspective on life. It can take as little as one hour a week or even once a month, doing things such as tutoring, helping in an animal shelter, visiting the sick, feeding the homeless, helping out at a walk or run for your favorite charity, etc.
Maintaining a work-life balance is not just a nice to have, or a wish, it is essential to remaining healthy and productive in all aspects and all phases of your life.