It’s Christmas and how times have changed. Where traditionally we used to get together with family to exchange gifts over Christmas Eve, Christmas Day or Boxing Day, now the gift-exchange may be done sometimes far in advance to accommodate either the parents, children or the grandchildren who run off to far-off places over the holiday break – whether by plane, on a cruise or other means.
More and more parents are changing the traditional family settings and moving into different working patterns. With new, unfamiliar models in which to stabilize the needs of work and life in general, the phrase “work-life balance” has become an issue of growing importance.
So much has changed in our work patterns in the last decade that many people in the western world do not hold on to traditional family values with parents working from home, or splitting work between an office and the home office. Family duties, tasks and activities are shifting and changing into a much more flexible and unpredicted setting.
Work-life balance is all about managing the time you have with things you want to do. Ask any successful manager and she will tell you that you have enough time in a day to do everything you want to do, so long as long as you prioritize and fully understand what it is that you want to accomplish. Work-life balance is about setting limits and truly understanding how much each and every detail in your daily routine is important to you and to your goals.
Two key elements for better work-life balance are prioritizing and delegating:
- Prioritizing starts by simply understanding that there may be way too many things you want to do, and that you cannot fit all of them into one day or sometimes even within one week. Through listing your activities and prioritizing them it order, the list can draw a clear picture, although sometimes not a nice one, that points to the need to give up some of your favourite things. Working from your list you will take the first step to better understand your activities and your limits on a daily basis.
- Delegating work allows you to deal with additional tasks when there is not enough time to manage the extra workload. Managing time is the same as task management, and both are in fact the basics of work-life balance. In the daily routine everyone can do a little something to achieve balance, including in the family. Family life can improve significantly with better work-life balance, and that’s exactly why all the members of a family can contribute to it by sharing responsibilities whether to help take out the garbage, prepare a meal or do other similar chores.
One other consideration with work-life balance is how unplanned days pass very quickly. Days that are fully planned out can move as fast as any unplanned day however you feel more satisfied knowing what all was accomplished by checking off all those tasks at the end of the day. Understanding the time you have available and figuring out what you want to do with it is a great challenge. Going to bed at night and realizing you have done 90% of what you planned to do, and that your day contained work and family activities you wanted to accomplish will make give you a sense of relief and may even help you to sleep better at night.
Balancing work activities and home related tasks is not unachievable and is something most of us need. Taking control of your time through prioritizing and delegating will allow you more quality time with your family and less personal stress. You may even find that you’ve avoided those malls with last minute Christmas shopping and instead have time available for a much-sought-after trip of your own over the holiday break.
Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and the best of the New Year!
