When Worlds Collide: How to Balance Your Life

Written by Mara Grau

Graphic Design by Mary Johnson

Balancing the different aspects of life has always been a difficult task. Yet, it has become even more complicated over the past couple of years. Most companies have turned to remote work to keep employees safe and healthy during the pandemic. To some, this seems like a better situation. However, others have struggled to find space for their personal lives after their homes have turned into offices.

People who do not work from home have a difficult time trying to balance their work and personal lives too. As part of The Employee Revolution, people are trying to stop sacrificing their personal lives to their jobs by finding the perfect work-life balance.

Here are some tips that can help you find the balance that works for you!

1. Doing Everything is Not an Option!

Figuring out your priorities is one of the most critical steps to take when sorting out your life. If you use any piece of advice from this, let it be this one. Make a list of your top priorities (five or more) and organize them from most important to least important. Then, make sure that you are making time for your priorities. For example, let’s say that connecting with your family is a top priority — do you have enough time to treat it as a priority? If your answer is no, you need to change how you section your time and find a better balance. Your priorities will change over time, so your work-life balance will need to change as well.

2. Let Your Strengths Guide You!

Everyone has different strengths. Keeping your strengths in mind will help you manage your work-life balance. Don’t take on too many tasks that push you out of your comfort zone. You should try to avoid situations where you need to give advice if giving advice is not one of your strengths. Sometimes it’s good to challenge yourself. But when you’re trying to find balance, it’s better to stick with what comes naturally. It’s easy to feel like your life is spiraling out of control when you push yourself to do too many things at once. So, make a note of the things that make life seem difficult. Then, you can determine how to get rid of them, or at the very least, make them more manageable.

3. Make the Most of Me-Time!

As lame as this may sound, every day, you should schedule yourself to do at least one activity you love. Yes, sitting on the couch and doing nothing after a long day of work may sound incredible, but you’ll come to regret it later. Planning to do meaningful things will help you feel like you have a personal life. Set aside two hours to watch that movie you’ve been meaning to watch or make plans to meet up with your friends. When you do this, you will feel that you made better use of your time. When you look back, you won’t remember having to make time for what you love; you will remember only actually doing it. Scheduling things that make you happy will help you create positivity to balance any negativity from work.

4. Have the Courage to Say No!

You need to set limits on your time and be strict about them. It would be best if you didn’t have to sacrifice your time for things that come up at work. Setting a strict work schedule will help you to have more personal time. Sometimes you will have to say no and mean it when including these strategies in your life. If your job is always asking for more of your time and you find it hard to say no, then you should consider finding a new job.

Being a part of The Employee Revolution can be as easy as balancing your personal and work life! Remember that the balance that worked in the past or works now will not always work in the future. You have to find what works best to keep your life feeling balanced and make adjustments as needed. To find more career-related advice, check out our awesome blog!