Do you want more Work-life balance? It’s a popular topic for new business consultants and everyone else that works in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
We all have more to do: we’re mothers and fathers; friends and siblings; people with hobbies and social lives and work responsibilities. And the more we have to do, the harder it is to keep ourselves and our lives in balance.
What is work life balance? This idea of ‘balance’ is described many different ways but it basically refers to intentionally creating a life that reflects your personal values and dreams is sustainable and attainable .
Balance occurs when work and all those other aspects of your life that are important to you mix in a way that is comfortable for you.
There’s no formula for it – what is balanced for one person may be very different than for someone else. Why is work-life balance extra challenging for the work-from-home consultant?
As challenging as work-life balance is for everyone…it may be even more challenging for the new consultant working at home. Why is it so challenging to maintain work-life balance as a new consultant working from home? You’re launching a new business. And a new business is hungry for your time and energy.
You need to find customers and start stacking up some “wins” while at the same time creating the structure needed for a business that will last. With a home office, you never really leave work. When working from home, schedules are often more flexible and time management may be entirely up to you — it can be so tempting to “do just a little more” at night or on the weekends, which eats into your family time, leisure time, or time with friends or hobbies.
In spite of this, though, it’s vital for you to maintain a work-life balance that allows you to thrive both at home and “at work.” Imbalance can lead to negative stress, fatigue or illness, time lost with friends or family or with other interests which can never be regained, and a drop in productivity.
7 tips to find your work-life balance:
1. Identify what matters to you. What really needs to be done, and when? What matters most in terms of your work and in terms of the rest of your life? Before you are able to focus on either work or other interests, you must know what it is that really matters.
2. Complete a wheel-of-life assessment. These are readily found online and are a simple exercise to help you identify important areas of your life. Once identified, you can see just how much of your time is being devoted to each vs. how much time you would like to focus on each, at this point in your life. From this you get a clearer sense of balance as well as ideas on where to cut back or put more effort into.
3. Manage your time effectively. This may include putting clear boundaries around what is work time and what is family or home time, or leisure time, or friendship time. Maintaining these boundaries will be a continual challenge, but having no boundaries at all will make you too scattered to be effective in any of your pursuits. Take control of your day, and at the end of the day be sure to leave work at work!
4. Learn when to say ‘yes’ and when to say ‘no.’ It’s tempting to say ‘yes’ to anyone who asks for your help – taking on an extra project, for example, or chairing a fundraising drive at your child’s school. Afterall, you don’t “really” work, right? Keep your focus! It’s ok to respectfully say ‘no’ to requests. By doing so you’ll make more room for the things that you’ve said matter most to you.
5. Ask for help. There’s absolutely no good reason to try to be everything to everyone, including yourself. The strongest people know what they can reasonably handle themselves, and when to ask for assistance from others. Join forces with others to get things done and strengthen your own support system.
6. Adjust your self-expectations. Does the house really need to be spotless? Is it time the kids (or spouse!) learn to do their own laundry? Think about what expectations you have of yourself and of others, and see what can be adjusted.
7. Take care of yourself. First. Because if you’re not doing this, it’s unlikely you’ll be of great use to anyone else. That means you do what you know to do in order to be healthy physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and vocationally. Stay physically active. Sleep. Eat healthy. Do something just for fun. Make sure each and every day you are doing something just for you (and putting your laundry away first doesn’t really count!).
Work-life balance is never set in stone – it’s a continuous process of re-learning and re-focusing on what matters most to us and then acting on that. Balance in your life today may look very different from what it will 1 year from now, or 5 years from now.
The point is to know what balance and imbalance feel and look like in your life, and make balance your priority today for the success of you and your business!
source: newconsultanthq .com