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8 Tips to Achieve Better Work Life Balance

By Ted Skinner

Keeping track of all our time demands can be a real challenge. Unfortunately, we can’t create more time in the day, but there are several tips that successful people use to have a better balance in their lives. If you want to improve your life's balance, give some of the tips below a try, and before you know it, you’ll be happier at work and home!

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Prioritize:
Know what matters. Have a plan and make sure that you concentrate on the things that are the most important to you. You probably already do this at work, but does your plan contain important personal priorities? The most important personal and professional priorities should appear on a list to get a better balance. Make sure you prioritize your schedule around those activities to ensure they can be done correctly.

Organize:

If you have trouble staying organized and are constantly anxious about what you should be doing, set up a system to track all your to-do items. That way, you can rank them by importance and ensure you work with the end in mind. You can look into Getting Things Done by David Allen or The Pomodoro Technique by Francesco Cirillo to turbocharge your productivity. These simple concepts and tools can help you squeeze more productivity out of your day.

Get real:

Realize that you can’t get everything done, but ensure you get the important things done. Remind yourself that it is okay if some of the less important things don’t get done.
Consolidate your calendars: Put important family events on your work calendar to make sure you carve the time out for that vital soccer game, band concert, swim meet, or science fair. Let the family know when you have a large presentation, a big product launch, or a conference to attend. An open line of communication will make it easier to coordinate.


Remain agile:

Reflect on your top priorities weekly and potentially more often, depending on your industry. The list should be adjusted based on market trends, new customers, fires that pop up, etc. I schedule weekly to review my lists, calendars, and priorities to ensure I am on top. This also allows me to adjust my schedule as needed. If my daughter has a play that I need to see and I have a project due on the same day, I can put the extra hours in to complete the project on time.

Follow a plan:

Ensure your business has a plan and is prepared to execute it. If you spend a large portion of your day on things that aren’t meaningful to the company’s goals, then you should be prepared to discuss with leadership to verify that your hard work is moving the company’s goals forward. You might spend much of your day doing a report that is no longer a priority, but you’ll never know until you ask!

Set boundaries:

With today’s technology, you can get distracted at any time of the day or night. Make sure that you have places and/or times that are technology-free. Perhaps it is at the dinner table every night, or maybe it is watching a television show as a family. Whatever it is, make sure that you follow the rules and expect other family members (including teenagers!) to do the same.

Learn to say no:

Too often, we want to do everything for everybody, and our to-do list explodes. We need to remind ourselves that it is okay to say no. Our “to-don’t” list is often even more critical than our to-do list. Won’t power is just as necessary as willpower?

Rhythm Systems Weekly Meeting With Myself Tool

Ted Skinner

 

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