Work-Life Balance Techniques -

Table of Contents

Introduction

Balance is very crucial at every stage of our life. Like babies learn to walk by maintaining balance, adults need to juggle multiple facets of life, including work-life balance. This means the six aspects of life that need to be balanced are Career, Health, Finances, Fun, Personal Growth, and Family. At times, higher emphasis may be needed in one area vs. the other, depending on life’s priorities and time constraints. Constant juggling results in a well-balanced life.

Tips and Techniques

Time Management is a crucial technique to balance life. Refer to our T ime Management blog for essential tips.

Here are some practical techniques to help balance various aspects of life:

Communicate clearly with management about your priorities and personal commitments.
Build rapport with colleagues to lean on when needed.
Don’t be obligated to attend every after-hours networking activity at work. Pick and choose based on your time availability.
Make use of policies and tools provided by your employer to better manage your personal life.
Assess and adjust the major commitments by choosing to start/continue/delay/stop some activities.
Keep in touch with like-minded people to grow and motivate each other.
Anchor your activity to an action to avoid postponing or delaying.
Make smaller and more realistic goals to achieve rather than postponing your goals due to lack of time.
Get support from your family for managing time and mental well-being.
Try to keep healthy food at home to maintain health.

Here are some personal experiences on how we juggle work, family, and other responsibilities and are still able to maintain the balance in life:

Career

I keep my manager informed about the status of my assignments. I also let them know about my family circumstances on a need-to-know basis. The open line of communication helps the manager understand my situation and I also built my reputation for being reliable.
My management was very supportive when I had to leave early to pick up my kids or stay home with a sick one.
I create a good rapport with my teammates which builds lifelong friendships. We help each other when needed to take care of family commitments.
I postponed my move to a new group when my kids were little. Even though this slowed down my career advancement, I made this conscious choice to alleviate work-related stress as I had the subject-matter expertise and a good rapport with the team.
I set up a dedicated workspace in the home. When work is over, and I come out of the room, I mentally transition into non-work mode.
I used to leave early from work to take my kids to their activities and then catch up later at night.
I used to avoid office gossip and unnecessary meetings to finish work and go home on time for my family.
When my kids were young and most of my time was needed by them, I decided to skip promotion and focus on being an effective individual contributor. Thereby, I built subject-matter expertise which was useful later in my career.

Personal growth

I volunteered at the religious class when I took my kids for the same. Working with kids gave me twofold happiness – I could stay close to kids and get my spiritual growth as well as I was giving back to the community.
I make time to keep in touch with like-minded people. It helps me learn from them. When my friends approached me with an idea to start a nonprofit to help kids, I didn’t have two thoughts about it. Thus, SIAGLO was born.
I carve out personal time to continuously grow. I’d wake up before my household on weekends and read.
I read for 15 minutes post-dinner, thus anchoring my personal growth to a chore.
I listen to audiobooks/podcasts while walking/driving – thus saving time.

Family

I organize things, so I save time searching for things. I keep different bags for various activities, such as one for work items, another for volunteering items, one for shopping, etc.
I clean up the clutter regularly around the home. For example, I clean my wardrobe for every seasonal change.
We call parents every weekend without fail, thus maintaining a strong bond.
I plan my week ahead of time. I cook extra meals during the weekend so that I can spare time to volunteer during the week.
We made a rule to buy lunch 1–2 times a week to reduce the stress of cooking, packing lunches, and cleaning.
My spouse and I divided the responsibilities so that each of us gets time to do the activity that we enjoy doing. Since I liked working with kids, I would take them around. My husband loved gardening and doing small projects around the house. So, he would take care of those.
I started a chore calendar for my household when my kids were old enough to help out. This way, I was able to focus on other things while making my kids self-sufficient.
We made family dinners a priority when kids were growing up, then planned other activities around dinner time.

Fun

I volunteer for activities that allow me to spend time with kids because I enjoy giving back to the community and learn a lot as well. For example: I helped at school for holiday activities, summer games, etc.I teach the kids my native language.
I wanted to learn to skate and signed up for skating classes with my son. By weaving into his activity, I didn’t have to spend additional effort to plan and attend the classes.
My son and I would spend a lot of time in libraries and bookstores, which was super fun for both of us as we are avid readers.
We make time for vacations, restaurants, and social gatherings and explore other interests such as movies, TV shows etc..
We outsource our cleaning or home improvements etc. to make time for family.
I started taking music lessons. Learning music is fun and I get “me” time in addition to acquiring a talent.

Health

I attach exercising to the activity that I enjoy and that motivates me to find time to exercise.
I love spending time with friends and I walk during lunchtime with them to catch up, or I listen to scriptures while I walk as I enjoy them. These techniques help me achieve my exercise goals.
I made it a point to provide at least one homemade meal per day. With that goal in mind, I plan accordingly and make time.
To avoid temptation, I do not keep pop, sugary snacks, at home. Instead, I keep fruit and healthy snacks around.
To stay healthy, I have diet and exercise goals. I make realistic plans to achieve and keep them sustainable. For example, I exercise daily for smaller time periods instead of exhaustive longer periods, which could demotivate me.

Financial

I made use of my employer’s Alternate Work Schedule policy and reduced my work hours to make time to volunteer at my children’s school. We planned and managed the lifestyle with a reduced income.
When time was scarce, I relied on financial management services for my 401K and 529 plans. By doing so, I was able to progress on the financial front.
I rely on automation as much as possible for savings, bill payments, and other financial chores to save time and focus on other priorities.
With auto savings, you achieve your financial goals effortlessly, and you don’t end up overspending as the money is not available in your checking account.

Conclusion

If you are clear about your goals and steadily work towards them with the right techniques, you can maintain balance in life. When life is balanced, you won’t feel stress and burden. In addition, surround yourself with people who will inspire and encourage you to do more.

Our proven tips and techniques should give further ammunition for work-life balance. If you have any questions or would like to share more tips, reach out via SIAGLO Instagram, Twitter, or email.