Don't be fooled by the television commercials showing women hustling between their careers and personal lives. It gets much harder for women to achieve a balance in their personal and professional life, as it requires managing both these elements by adopting a meticulous approach. This approach guarantees that you keep your energy rushing, thereby achieving a healthy mind and body and a happy and satisfied self. So laid down below are some helpful tricks for the women of substance to follow while trying to manage their career and life together.
Keep track of your time
Evaluating your current situation is the stepping stone to attain a balanced life. Maintain a timetable or log of the things to do for the week, including work commitments and personal engagements. This way, you will have an idea about how are devoting or losing your time.
Set your priorities straight
Invest time to consider what is most significant for you, and create a list of your top priorities at home and work. Then evaluate your time management by questioning yourself - What do I need to begin with? Finish with? Or continue doing?
Set focused goals
Look into your priority list and turn them into solid and attainable goals. Set specific time into your schedule for different activities same as you would do for an appointment or a meeting.
Plan punctiliously
The key to excelling in career and life is how you plan your work and then work your plan. Use a date planner whether electronic or paper, this is the medium with which you transform your goals into reality. Invest 10-15 minutes at the start of every day to plan your activities for the day ahead.
Draw boundaries
Impose realistic limitations on what you should and shouldn't do at work as well as at home. Have a word or two with your colleagues, superior, partner and family about these boundaries. For example, you might not be comfortable working late on some days unless there is an issue or a crisis. Additionally, set a particular time at home when you'll not look at or entertain any work-related emails or messages.
Health is wealth
This should feature at the top of your priority list. If you aren't emotionally, mentally and physically fit, then it'll have an adverse impact on your career and life. Make sure to consume healthy meals (specifically the breakfast), workout at least three times a week and sleep for at least seven hours at night. While you may think all this as insignificant to include in your tight schedule, these activities ensure a relief from career-related stress, spike your energy level, elevate your stamina, boost your mental wellness and your immune system and reveals a happier and more dedicated self. Also, make limited use of tobacco, alcohol or drugs to alleviate stress.
Cherish your relationships and family
Your healthy relationships with family, friends and close ones are possibly the best source of inner peace and contentment. If your career or work is affecting your relationships, both the aspects will fall apart eventually. While there will be times when you will need to work some extra hours, problem arises when these days become a routine, not an occasional activity. When you make your relationships your driving force, your competency and productivity on the job will increase ten-fold.
Indulge in some 'me' time
Sure, your health, work and relationships have a position of priority in your life, but it is also vital to spare some time for your rejuvenation. Indulge in certain pleasurable activity on a regular basis. Spare at least half an hour of "me time" for yourself. It will have a huge influence on your holistic wellbeing, and you will surely reap the rewards of the relationship and career front as well.
Keep your work at your workplace
Master a mental switch on and off between work and home. It helps to initiate a transitional process between the two areas of your life. This might comprise of listening to soothing music or audio books during your way back home from the office, working out at the gym, running particular errands or meeting a close friend. Performing such activities after your usual work hours are over prevents you from giving extra twenty minutes in the office which can even reach up to a couple of hours.
Contemplate your options and work smarter
Many progressive corporate organizations today are developing programs and guidelines that promote work-life balance, specifically for women. Look for the options provided by the organization you're working for when it comes to telecommuting, flex hours, a compact work week or part-time employment. You may come across a system that enables you to function more productively while sparing enough for precious family time. If your organization does not yet have a proper flexible schedule system, you can pitch the idea.
Managing time more efficiently is a skill that everyone from the accountant to the CEO needs to master. Applying the right amalgamation of the time-management system can eliminate anxiety and save you some hours in a day. You can use technology to become more meticulous with your time, and by grouping work emails and messages, and shunning procrastination.
Don't get intimidated by thinking that you need to make these significant changes all at once. Even if you adopt only a handful of these tricks, they will have a beneficial and considerable impact in your life.
This guest post was authored by Sophia Graham
Sophia Graham is a visiting faculty in a reputed university in the US and has been associated with MyAssignmenthelp.com for three years. She has pursued her PhD from Boston University. She is one of the most distinguished career counseling experts and professional academic writer.
Ms. Career Girl was started in 2008 to help ambitious young professional women figure out who they are, what they want and how to get it.
