We often come across the term ‘Work-Life Balance’ that has conditioned us to believe that there is a magic formula for having it all. People are always asking how do you find work-life balance? This makes us believe that if we work hard and are disciplined, then we can have a job we love, money in the bank, a beautiful home, and loads of free time to spend with our partner, children, family, and friends. It seems that everybody is chasing the idea of ‘work-life balance,’ yet most of us aren’t sure of what it looks like and how to achieve it. so how do you find work-life balance?
Myth one of work-life balance
Balance Means Giving Equal Time to Everything
There is a myth that to balance your time, it must be spent equally at work and on life. Life is much more intricate and complex than fifty per cent work and fifty per cent everything else. Balance is about making choices. We have to choose the buckets we want to give our time and energy to. We need to look at our work, family, hobbies, friends, spirituality, volunteering, self-care, and everything in between and decide where we want to spend our energy.
The big lesson here is to choose and be happy with the choices you make. In the early days of starting my business, I used to feel guilty. I thought I wasn’t giving enough time to my kids or magazine business. Looking back, the effort I put into both areas was more than enough.
It’s important to regularly assess what needs most of our time and attention right now and prioritise accordingly. Sometimes, our work takes a critical chunk of our lives, and sometimes it’s our family. The significant thing is to understand that balance is never equal and never stationary. We need to be able to celebrate the wins and sacrifices we make to run a successful business and family.
Read the my full blog dispelling some of the myths about work/life balance over on www.thehomeworker.com.
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