Ten Tips for Balancing Work and Life

In today’s crazy world, it can be next to impossible to be able to maintain your career and social and family life. In the past, women were just relegated to the kitchen. But today, we’re not just in the kitchen, we’re in the board room, networking luncheon, book club, non-profit organization and PTA, too. Achieving a work-life balance is now a goal you work your whole life to accomplish. But it doesn’t have to be that difficult.

I am the founder of Strategies for Women’s Growth, and I created a program to help women overcome obstacles to their success. I teach the 3P’s: powerful professional and personal esteem; powerful verbal and non-verbal language and powerful presentations and packaging.

My book, How To Raise Your Self-Esteem, a Self-Enhancement System for Women, is part of the curriculum for the Hamilton County Justice Center Women’s Substance Abuse Treatment Program. In it, I teach women how to develop strategies to live life to the fullest. From it, I put together a list of 10 tips for balancing work and life:

Have reasonable expectations
Given your full plate ask yourself “What may I have to let go?

Take care of yourself
Ask yourself often, “Am I too hungry, too angry, too lonely or too tired”? If the answer is yes, take some time for you.

Have goals
Don’t just be a hamster on the wheel, ask yourself “Are my actions taking me where I want to go in life?”

Plan and organize
Reactive is dangerous. You can’t balance the load if you are in chaos.

Prioritize
More than five priorities and you will probably fail at all of them.

Anticipate crises
Even the best plans can get tripped up by a crisis. Have a plan B: backup child care, back up batteries in your alarm clock,  have “Fix a Flat” in your trunk and someone to set up for you in an important meeting, etc.

Delegate and set limits
Delegate at work and at home. You do no one any service by trying to do it all. Learn to set limits and be able to say, “no!”

Communicate
People don’t know your needs unless you tell them. Learn to say “One thing I need right now is…”

Compartmentalize
Be in the present. When you are at work focus on the job and when at home focus on those that are dear to you.

Have a positive attitude
When feeling overwhelmed, ask: “Why did I make this life choice?” That should help bring you back to the joy of that segment of your life.