Work-life balance – striving for balance

To reach heights in a career, to quickly descend to the top, you need an unusually large amount of strength, energy and, most importantly, time. Unfortunately, there are only 24 hours in a day, and in order to pay more attention to work, it is necessary to infringe on ourselves in some way and it often happens that we take time from our loved ones, upsetting the established balance of work and personal life. How to avoid extremes, as well as how to maintain harmony not only in relationships, but also to actively move forward at work – all these questions will be raised in this article.

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Scrooge s Syndrome from Deckens A Christmas Carol. Realities

All of us have understood this entertaining story, at least from the time of the school curriculum: the curmudgeon-workaholic who does not have time for his family is going through fantastic adventures on Christmas Eve. The story is undoubtedly interesting, but nevertheless, first of all, we are more interested in the main character – a person who wants nothing but work, as well as benefits, who is alien to family warmth and friendly participation. A deplorable image, isn t it? But the chances are that this is how you will look in the eyes of the people around you if you cannot maintain a balance between work and personal life.

So how can you avoid such an outcome? Not turning into a successful, but still a lonely careerist, or, for example, giving yourself completely to your family, but nevertheless regretting unfulfilled dreams? The answer is simple – balance. Yes, that s right – don t try to choose one thing, combine. Work is undoubtedly good, commendable, but you also need to pay attention to people close to you.

First, realize that it is quite possible not to be limited to one of the evils. Look at the example of many people, for example, Bill Gates. Yes, he is undoubtedly a “beast” in relation to work: a hard worker, whom you still need to look for, but nevertheless, he is considered the most sensitive and exemplary family man. What s the secret? Just remember that you can build a successful career always and everywhere, if you have a desire, but a warm, trusting relationship is very easy to lose.

Correctly set priorities are half of a successful business

To maintain the right balance of work and personal life, you do not need to use overly clever ways or techniques. First, it is enough to realize that something needs to be changed. It is necessary to proceed only on the basis of internal priority aspirations and, of course, your own desires. Now, here are the top 3 tips for maintaining balance between home and work you love:

1. Unleash Your Own Potential and Delegate Responsibilities… At its core, the secret is simple – don t be afraid to ask for help when you really need it. If you realize that you are not doing it, then do not hesitate to ask for help. Man is not omnipotent, he is physically unable to keep up always and everywhere. We all have moments when you don t know where to go next, or moments when you just doubt yourself.

   At such times, contact your loved ones, give yourself a break from work. Learn to disconnect from work, at least for a short time. Since during rest you can not only relax, but also get a significant portion of inspiration, which can be very useful for further work achievements;

2. Correct priorities… When setting priorities, the main thing is to be guided first of all by your inner thoughts: “What do I really want?”. Ask yourself a few questions of this kind – and you will understand what is the best strategy for you to choose. Some people need more family warmth to maintain a balance between work and personal life, while others, on the contrary, need more work assignments, but more difficult.

   To visualize your desires, all you need is just a blank sheet of paper and a pen. Draw the sheet in half, into two sectors – “Work” and “Personal life”. Write in each sector all your wishes and plans regarding this or that activity. In the end, you will see exactly where you yearn to realize yourself, based on your personal requirements.

3. Plan your every day… Yes, such a statement may seem boring, with a touch of slight snobbery. However, this is the most popular method, as well as the most effective one for maintaining a balance of work and personal life.

   Schedule your day, strictly delimiting the time both for work and for rest, while in no case should you spend your free time from one period to another. That is, if you decide to rest, then do it only at the stipulated time and vice versa. Thus, you develop a habit of not crossing rest and work, but at the same time clearly distinguishing between it, which will allow you to avoid extremes.

These three ways are at the heart of any work-life balance program without harming you or your interests. They make it possible to understand that human life should not be constrained by the framework of other people s interests. After all, first of all, you should be on the scale of your own priorities, and not someone else.

Four steps towards harmony

Based on various methods, practices, and simply on the personal experience of other people, we managed to create a formula for the harmonious combination of work with your private life. It is incredibly simple: Honesty, Responsibility, Reality, Versatility. It is these components, or rather their correct proportionality, that is harmony. This four-step system was invented by Nigel Marsh, an employee of a consulting agency and the father of 4 children. Suggestive, isn t it? This practice is based purely on his personal experience. A similar question was asked by him to himself when he was already over 40. He was horrified that he was completely unfamiliar with his children. Therefore, he quits, and then spent a whole year with his family, but soon realized that this was not an option either, since the family still requires money, and without work they simply will not exist.

That is why he decided to develop a strategy that would allow him to maintain such a delicate balance of work and personal life.

1. Honesty with yourself and others… The ideal combination of family and work is impossible, it is always necessary to sacrifice something, the only question is what and in what quantities. Such frankness will help, first of all, a person soberly assess his strengths and priorities, giving him the opportunity to decide for himself. What is in the forefront for you now – work or home. Thus, everyone will be able to completely exclude the possibility of influence from others, which are often not just erroneous, but, frankly speaking, even absurd;
2. The responsibility lies only on our shoulders… The results of all decisions made will necessarily have certain consequences. Responsibility for which should (and will) lie only with the one who made those or other decisions. All that is required of you in this situation is not to throw like a ball, your own responsibility to others. Learn to be responsible for your actions, actions and words, on the simple basis that you yourself made such a decision and no one forced you to it;
3. Reality of aspirations and own desires… For example, you want to reach a new career stage after 3 months of work, while paying attention to your personal life too. Complete absurdity. Any adequate and reasonable person understands that in this situation, it is absolutely impossible to maintain a balance of work and personal life. For the simple reason that for such a fast take-off, a truly stunning result of the work done is needed, which can only be achieved while in non-stop mode, 24 hours a day. So what kind of personal life can we talk about at this moment? In the end, you need to remain realistic, not science fiction. Either strive for something really doable, the result from which you can get, or live in fantasies, but expect success as such;
4. Diversity of interests… Many people who are faced with this problem completely forget about their personal hobbies, which have nothing to do with either the first or the second. For example, about playing golf. Spending all the time with family or work, many simply forget about healthy egoism, which is simply necessary. You also need time for yourself, for your hobby, no matter how ridiculous they beat. Give yourself 2 hours of time for your favorite activity, at least once every two to three days. Believe me, this is not much, but the time spent on yourself eliminates the feeling of being used by others. Remember to have time for yourself: go to the spa, play a light jazz or comedy movie. No matter what, the main thing is to do something for yourself.

Summing up this article, it is necessary to re-emphasize the fact that it is impossible to create an ideal balance of work and personal life, such as in books, if only for the simple reason that it is simply unrealistic. You can learn to walk this fine line balancing between the first and the second. Yes, sometimes it will be necessary to sacrifice one to compensate for the second, and then vice versa. The main thing is to remember that compensation should be required in any case, since in this case this precarious balance will be disturbed. Try, work on yourself, your mistakes, be patient with loved ones (believe me, this will not be superfluous) and start working on your own life line. The main thing is to believe in yourself.