Lately, I’ve been reading more and more on health, wellbeing and spirituality. I am loving what the top gurus in the field are saying about living a healthy and spiritually balanced life, but I am yet to find one who practices while at the same time leading a fast-paced, high-pressure, full-time working life.
On the face of it all, it seems that leading a high-pressure working life and being highly focused on health and wellbeing don’t actually go hand in hand. And perhaps they don’t. But there’s so much we can do to take some of that spiritual and physical richness into our day-to-day lives – despite the pressure.
Below you’ll find some of the tricks I’ve learned to create an amazing work/life balance – but just remember, it does require ongoing focus. You can’t just arrive there – you have to continue to work at it. Here’s how.
1. Do more to find balance – not less. Sound strange? Read on…
Having balance in life is not about doing less. It’s actually about doing more. It’s about making sure you are taking the time to commit to daily and weekly practices that will foster your wellbeing and self worth. This includes daily exercise, going to health appointments when you need (think the dentist every six months for a regular preventative clean and scale, getting an annual blood test for regular checks on stuff like cholesterol, vitamin b and minerals, going to the chiropractor if you have a sore back – just to name a few), daily meditation to calm the incessant voice we all have running through our minds, and making time to do the things you love and that really interest you and keep your spirit flowing such as art, music or languages. It’s also essential to make time for the positive relationships in your life because these are actually one of the greatest sources of wellbeing we can find.
These things may sound obvious, but not many of us put them into practice as effectively as we could. I can tell you that I have had a really difficult time in the past making sure I keep health appointments, scheduling regular catch ups with friends, and taking time to do what I need. I still have a hard time but I make sure that most of the time I do the things that I need for wellbeing. It’s still hard but I try to put myself before work as much as possible. After all, jobs can come and go but I have to live with myself forever!
2. Diarise everything
At least to start with, put notes in the diary for everything you need to do. Once you have a clear idea of how and where you’ll fit everything in, it will all seem much more manageable. I’ve synced up my gmail calendar and work calendar to my iPad so everything appears in the one, and I can access it wherever I am. You could also do this with your phone. This is particularly helpful when you’re starting new habits, such as exercise. It’s also useful to diarise ‘me time’ and even cooking and shopping time. When you’re busy, it’s often the case that if it’s not in the diary, it won’t happen. It’s really important to take the time to do this – half an hour of planning can save you a ton of stress throughout the week. I’ve never met someone really busy who can fit everything in without diarising.
3. Even if it doesn’t feel like it, your daily practices are working – so start small, and build up!
Sometimes – particularly when you’re starting new habits – it can feel as though nothing is happening and all you do is work, work, work, and put so much effort in all the time. So often, we try to do everything all at once and then give up when it gets too hard. Don’t make this easily avoidable mistake! Commit to one small change each week, and build on it. This is the best way I’ve found to lock myself into healthier habits. Start with doing 10 minutes of meditation three times a week, or put a new exercise regime in your diary two or three times a week. Try to make it consistent so that these new rituals become habits. Then, when you’ve mastered that, move on to something else.
It can take time to really see the results but every small change is having a huge difference – particularly over the long run. It’s useful to keep a journal (check out my post about daily one-sentence journals – a concept I borrowed from The Happiness Project‘s Gretchen Rubin) so you can see how far you’ve come, because often it’s not obvious. A lot of the time we focus on how far we have to go, not how far we’ve already made progress. Be kind to yourself and look at all that you’ve achieved every now and then!
What have you found are the biggest challenges to having a work/life balance?