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5 Things To Know About Creating A Work-Life Balance
1 October, 2020
I talk about work-life balance a lot, it’s something I’m super passionate about helping high-flying women achieve. There is a lot of bad press about achieving a work-life balance and that it’s impossible, however I think this is misleading – You can create a balance. I help women do it on a daily basis and it’s what helped me recover from getting from burnout in my previous career.
Here are 5 things you need to know about creating and maintaining a work-life balance:
1. Your values and priorities are uniquely yours, these are the driving forces for every decision and action you take in your life. This is the starting point for you to be able to create a balance that works for you – and you alone. One of the biggest mistakes we make is we compare our lives to others and think – I should be doing that, ‘I should be going to all the school plays too’, ‘I’m nearly 40 I should be married by now’, ‘If she can have abs then I should be able to have them too’. Let’s get real, this is childish – whoever these people are, they have different priorities and values to you, that doesn’t mean they are better or not than you, or that you are failing or falling behind or not good enough, it means you’re at different stages of your life.
2. Setting goals for focus and direction has helped the clients I’ve worked with no-end. Having goals and direction is having control, when we have control we feel more positive about our day and confident in ourselves to achieve what we’ve set out to do. I’ve found it helps keep daily tasks from becoming overwhelming, and it’s also a big motivator to make the changes needed and to follow-through with what you say you’re going to do. It makes it easier to say no (an essential skill for maintain balance) and stops time wasting like watching to much Netflix, scrolling on Instagram or making your 100th Pinterest board!
Tips for setting goals;
Make sure they are aligned with your values and priorities, that you have a clear why for setting them – because you think you ‘should’ doesn’t cut it, trust me, you will not get the outcomes you’re looking for. Get specific – the more specific you are about your goals the easier they are to break down into small action steps.
3. Once your goals are set it’s time to check in on your expectations – of your abilities, how long things will take, your skill level, your responsibilities and commitments. The most under-rated task – literally this is going to help you set a balance that will work for you.
Goal setting will help you achieve things you want in your life at a faster rate than without setting goals – this is true, but how fast is determined by what is going on in your life.
Successful people are successful because they are realistic and do not expect everything to run smoothly all the time, they prepare for times when things don’t go to plan, and they take the time to learn a new skill to help to achieve better outcomes later on.
We forget that becoming skilled in something takes practice, learning from mistakes, consistency and some form of support – a teacher, coach, expert, books, taking a class or course.
It’s exactly the same for fitness goals, career goals and creating a healthy work-life balance – being realistic – this is not about lowering your expectations, just allowing yourself the time to make it work and achieve the outcomes you want.
4. Alongside this, check-in with what’s working and what’s not on a regular basis. I share a weekly reflection journalling exercise on my Instagram stories for exactly this reason, to help you keep perspective, real and in control of the direction of your life. You really don’t have to spend long checking in – ask yourself what’s working and what’s not, then take full responsibility for both answers. If something isn’t working, then create a list of options to change it and start testing out new ways to do things. It’s the famous quote ’nothing changes unless you do’ put into action! You can’t expect new or different results if you keep doing the same things.
5. Creating balance is or getting into a healthy flow of your health, fitness, career and taking care of your family is no easy feat, there are going to be times when it goes wrong and there are going to be times when it feels easy! Show yourself compassion along the way and you will get to where you want to be.
Need more wellness and lifestyle tips? Click here to listen to: The Heidi Jones Coaching Podcast!
This podcast will delve into all the things needed to create a lifestyle you love. Discussing health, wellbeing and strategies you can use in your day-to-day life, mindset shifts to be able live out your goals and dreams without overwhelm & fear stopping you and creating YOUR work-life balance.
