9 Tips for Finding Balance between Life, Work and Family

Your professional ambitions don’t have to imply personal sacrifices – in fact, with only a bit of effort, you can achieve the healthy work & family balance quickly. Yes, you can leave your projects in your office and enjoy long walks with your kids, romantic dinners with your partner and perfectly organized home!

Here are some tips to get you into that wonderfully balanced life.

1. Use planners for work

Set some realistic goals for each day and try to stick to the schedule. Planners are handy for you to organize your working time better and avoid working overtime. It may take time for you to get used to planners (as they can be annoying sometimes) but the idea of dividing your working time to get more family time should keep you motivated.

2. Feel free to say no

Let your boss know that you are available for work only during the working hours. Staying after work to do something that can wait or something that isn’t even your job should be unacceptable. Also, you don’t have to be available for business contacts after you are out of your office. Feel free to ignore your emails when you are spending time with your family, unless they are extremely urgent, of course.

3. Don’t be obsessed with perfectionism

We all want to do our best, but sometimes it’s exactly this perfectionism that keeps us away from enjoying a balanced life. This goes both when it comes to work and domestic life.  It’s okay if you print a report with a few typos and it’s okay to miss a spot when you’re dusting. It’s okay if you leave some work for tomorrow and choose to spend today’s afternoon with your children or partner.

4. Start your morning healthily

Besides having a healthy meal, consider exercising or meditating in the morning. Any type of physical activities in the morning could give you more energy to get through the day and contribute to a more balanced lifestyle. Once you establish a healthy morning routine, there is a chance you won’t feel tired after work, which leaves you with many options! You can walk your pet with your kids, you can all enjoy a board game, you can try out a new recipe, you can do whatever you want!

5. Share home responsibilities

To find balance in your family life requires the participation of the entire family. Make sure to share the chores with your partner and kids, if they are old enough to help you. You can use the same principle at your workplace and ask your co-workers for help if you feel overwhelmed. Taking responsibilities for everyone frequently means you can experience a burnout.

6. Plan vacations and family weekend trips ahead

Schedule the exact dates of traveling and announce them to your boss weeks before you hit the road. These trips will keep you motivated to finish all the work before you travel and give you a proper relaxation you deserve. If the finances are not working in your favor, try pulling out at least some one-day visits to your relatives in the countryside. Changing the everyday environment usually contributes to the entire family’s balance.

7. Hire someone to help you

If it’s clear that you don’t have the time or energy to, for instance, deal with your garden or do the spring cleaning, it is more than legit to hire a professional. It will save you much more trouble than it is obvious, as you won’t have to go through that process and suffer the tiring aftermath. Take your family to the cinema while the professionals take care of your business.

8. Eliminate useless practices from your daily life

Are you watching a TV show you don’t even like that much? Are you having coffee with people you don’t actually enjoy seeing? It’s time for you to honestly detect all the activities that don’t bring you any benefits and use that time to do something else. A balanced life implies that you need to throw some stuff off the scales as well.

9. Let the tech work for you

Nowadays, you can use the Internet to shop for literally anything. Instead of spending hours at a supermarket, you can have your groceries delivered to your doorstep. You can also use the Internet to pay for your bills and avoid long queues. And, finally, the Internet offers lots of options for families to have fun – from recommending you stunning places in your area you haven’t seen yet to amusing family films available for online streaming, which is more than convenient when you don’t have time to go to a cinema.

It takes time to find balance.

While all the mentioned tips can be implemented in virtually any person’s life, they cannot be implemented all at once. Don’t expect your life to reverse tomorrow or in a week. Make the balanced work and home life your long-term mission and start with small steps. Maybe this week you’ll start getting used to a planner and manage to stick to your morning meditation in a few months. Changes are never easy, even when they are simple.