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With the world working online, balancing your personal and professional lives can seem like a task. However, it is an essential activity everyone must do! If your to-do list never ends and the crushing deadlines start to interfere with your family time, it’s a sign that you are unable to bring harmony to your professional and personal life.
According to a recent survey by Monster India, “60% of working Indians rate their work-life balance from average to terrible.”
Managing time effectively; work life balance for women especially, has become extremely crucial. We need a coherent strategy to keep our work and personal life aligned. It is crucial to get some ‘me time’ for yourself, as well! It is the easiest way to avoid burn-out and stress over something that can be managed with a plan.
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A plan is crucial for a healthy work life balance! If you wake up and just go about your day unplanned, you may feel worn out by nightfall without finishing your tasks for the day.
Set apart your long-term and short-term goals, both personal and professional.
Once you have solidified that, you can easily map out the plan to reach your destination. Here, is a plan to help you with your work-life balance and get your life back on a smoother track.
Work life balance tips and techniques:
1. Declutter To Balance
Decluttering is the most crucial task to get started with. A clutter-free life is a stress-free life. One of the most important strategies to improve work life balance. Your office desk, your email list, pending files, the pile of clothes at home, your mind–everything needs to be neatly sorted. If you fail to declutter your house, you will inevitably clutter up your life.
Don’t panic. Start small with one task at a time, but make it happen!
It will change your life. If you follow a regular regimen of decluttering, your life will get easier and better. Remove the chaos and enjoy the serenity of life: the benefits of work life balance.
2. Lose Your Perfection Parameters
Dear women, loosen up your perfection parameters! What is work life balance if not prioritising your sanity and health first? Society at large tells women that they have to be the model of perfection at every point in their lives, but do not fall into that patriarchal trap! Constant perfection is overrated. Don’t pressurize yourself to be the best at everything you do.
If you keep striving for perfection at every step, it will eventually become one of the biggest barriers to a work life balance you would otherwise want to achieve as you will get worn out before you’ve walked very far.
However, letting go of perfection parameters is not the same as doing your tasks half-heartedly. The message is to not overburden and over-stretch yourself. Give it your best shot but if you fail to make it happen exactly the way you wanted, don’t feel guilty.
3. Share For Self-Care
Always remember that you are a woman, not a superhuman. You can always opt-out of certain tasks that take an unnecessary toll on your mental health. At work, communication is key. Tell your seniors if you need help with the tasks assigned to you. If no help is made available to you, try to ask your client for some more time to do the work.
This is easier said than done and is one of the many challenges in achieving a work life balance but make your point clear to your seniors about why you need more time or help to do a task more accurately.
You need to make your colleagues and superiors understand your point of view. Make them realize that a small-time would not only create a positive difference to the outcome of your task but also create a healthy work environment. At home, you can delegate tasks to your family members and hire domestic help as well. Gone are those days when only women were responsible for household chores. A handy tip for a good work life balance!
4. Customize Your Time
I worked for three years in a CA firm as an intern and I know for a fact that September and March are the two months when things get way more hectic. In such periods, it becomes too difficult to keep up with personal goals and family time.
Every business has such periods when the workload gets too elevated and it becomes difficult for employees to manage time for their families.
The work life balance tip for employees here is to: Keep your calendar ready for such months and match it with your personal schedule.
Also, there are times when you will have to prioritize your responsibilities at home. For such times you can ask your employer to let you work from home or allow you to have flexible shifts at work. Contemplate upon the options available to you.
Be attentive towards such changes and be ready with your best plan to settle the differences in such timelines. Know when you are needed where the most, and customize your schedule accordingly.
5. Every Once In A While, Take It Easy
Every once in a while, take some time out just for yourself. Practice self-affirmations. Write down all your professional and personal achievements, however small. It will give you confidence and help you get ready for upcoming challenges.
Relax. Pursue a hobby, sleep, listen to music, or do anything that makes you feel better. This will also help you develop a clearer vision of how to maintain a healthy work life balance.
After having to put up with all the hardship at work, you need some time for yourself to feel human again. Also, make sure that your to-do lists are manageable. Don’t squeeze in the tasks that might hinder your whole plan. Be realistic, know your limits, and work on your strengths.
6. Use Technological Tools To Make Work Easier
There are many apps and software that can help you track your goals, improve focus, help you boost your productivity, or assist you in many ways to get things done quicker. A plethora of such aids is available.
Find what tool is best suited for you and your needs.
Invest in appliances or tools that would make your day less fussy and more manageable. It saves you a lot of time and also frees you from unnecessary labor.
The most important thing is to remember that you can do it! Don’t feel overwhelmed if something remains undone, or if things don’t work out as per your plan.
These are 6 useful tips for a better work life balance.
Remember: Life will throw all kinds of uncertainties your way. Embrace it, walk confidently forward, and you will find your way eventually. You have done it well so far, and you are enough. Always remember that you do not need to compare your life with that of others!
The one thing to keep reminding yourself at all times is this apt work life balance quote: “She believed she could, so she did”
What is work-life balance for you? Share in the comments below!
Updated 17 August 2021
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