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Five tips to help you achieve work-life balance
- Address the root causes of your imbalance. Do you want to please everyone? Do you think you're not good enough if you can't achieve twice as much as the next person? Ask yourself these hard questions, and then learn how to address them. There may very well be some unresolved emotional issues lurking beneath the surface of your impossibly hectic schedule.
- Find out what it is that other people really need from you. Your boss may not need you to work overtime; your child may be happy just hanging out with you at home; the charity asking you to volunteer your time may be able to call somebody else. Before placing demands on yourself related to other people's expectations, clarify what those expectations are. If you find it hard to ask, work on improving your communication skills.
- Ensure your actions are congruent with your values. If you believe family comes first, honor that commitment in your schedule. If you treasure your health, set aside time for self-care. Your time and energy are precious: make sure you spend them on things you truly value.
- Organize and separate your work life from your home life. Although some overlap is inevitable, do your best to create healthy boundaries between your work and your home. That way, it becomes much easier to assess and prioritize the diverse demands of both these aspects of your life, without minimizing the importance of either.
- Be willing to ask for help. As the English poet John Donne famously wrote, "No man is an island." As human beings, we are designed to help one another and to seek others' help when we need it. Sometimes, this can be as simple as asking a friend to baby-sit or a co-worker to cover your shift. Other times, it may require reaching out for more formal types of help, such as counseling.
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