The Balancing Act

Life is a big struggle sometimes. Balance between work and life is something I try to achieve each week. But it is hard. Sometimes REAL hard. Unexpected appointments pop up, disasters happen, kids get sick, deadlines at work appear. How is anyone expected to balance out their lives between work and life realistically?

Sometimes, you can't. And that is perfectly ok! We do the best we can with what we know and try to stick with what works. The key is to also ditch methods that just are not cutting it. Sometimes making tiny or huge change in your life is just what is needed to keep the balance steady. Here are a few tips to consider.

1. Leverage your job. Take your break and your lunch break. Use it to run your errands, make personal phone calls or set appointments for your family. You are given the time and not being paid for it so get going!

2. Rely on friends and family. I take my neighbor's son 3 mornings to school because she is a single mom who needs to get to work for 7:15am each morning. I am happy to help. I am taking my child to school anyway so it is no problem. Ask a family member to pick up your child once a week so you can get an extra hour or two to stay later at work or leave early and hit up the gym. Yes, it is perfectly fine and required to take care of yourself.

3. Get a new job. Yes, if your commute is getting in the way of your personal life and you spend more time on the road than at home, by all means get one closer to home. This is not always feasible for everyone but if you have the type of job where you can find it closer to home, by all means it could make a huge impact on your personal life.

4. Ask for flextime. If you are valuable to a company, propose working longer hours on a day or two to leave early on other days or moving your schedule from 7-4pm instead of 8-5pm. It can't hurt to ask and if you are valued, they just might accommodate you.

5. Use your weekend. Weekends are for relaxing of course. But scheduling in an hour each Saturday and Sunday to take care of much needed errands or tasks around the house could mean more time to focus on other things during the week. You would be amazed at what you can achieve in just one hour if you schedule it. 

6. Here are some of my readers suggestions after being asked via the Charged Facebook page. Anneliese stated " Up early and work late, I love being busy." Leila said " making a list and walking her dog". 

7. Use a calendar. Sometimes if you schedule an activity with family or something related to work, you normally will get it done. 

8. Take a day off. Most of us are all given PTO time with our jobs if we work full-time. You would be surprised at how many people do not use even half of their paid time off each year. And we wonder why we can't find balance! Use the day to recharge yourself or do something fun with family.

What works for one person might not work for another. You have to experiment and find what works best for you and your family. Write down the goals that you have for finding balance between work and life. Perhaps it is having at least 3 family dinners a week or being able to attend an after hours work event once a month. Finding balance often takings consistent tweaking. After all, we cannot always predict what will come at us in this thing called life. 

How do you strive for balance in your life?