There's no such thing as work-life balance

Hi {{first_name}},

There’s no such thing as work-life balance.

Work-life balance is just life balance. 

You don’t have this thing called work and then your life starts outside of it. 

Your time at work IS your life.

So instead of thinking of balancing work and life, think about creating an amazing life.

Of which work is one part.

Family might be another part. And exercise. And time on your own. And any hobbies or goals you have. 

When you start thinking about your time as your life, you’ll be more focused to create the life you want, including your work.

And if you're finding that your life at work is taking up more time or headspace than you’d like, here are some things you can do to shift that.

1. Get clear on your why

Why is it important for you to create more balance? What would it be like if you did? Write down all your reasons. The stronger your “why”, the easier it will be to make and stick to the changes you make.

2. Think about what your ideal day looks like

Is it a morning walk in the woods with the dog? Lunch with the whole family? A late afternoon bike ride? An evening spent reading? What excites you, energises you, makes you feel alive, relaxes you, nourishes you and inspires you?

Now, how could you bring more of these into your everyday life? Notice when you brain says this 'well this just isn't possible', and instead ask 'how could it be possible for me?"

3. Create an amazing life

When you have an amazing life, you might not want to spend your evenings and weekends working.  What is a goal you want to achieve that you never seem to get around to?

Pick one now and take one step towards making it happen. That marathon you’ve always wanted to run? Decide to sign up for it today and start training for it next week. Having personal goals scheduled into your week will create more time freedom and add a richness to your life.

4. Decide when you’re working - and when you're not

Grab a pen and a paper and decide: what days do you want to work? Why? When are you starting work each day? Why? When are you finishing work each day? Why?

Remember that high performance - using your brain at its highest level and creating impact - requires any periods of healthy stress to be balanced with rest. Think of your mind and body as if you were an athlete. You can’t go to the gym and train hour after hour, then day after day, because you'll overtrain. Your brain is the same.

Once you’ve decided this, keep it visible - think a post-it on your computer, an alarm that will go off in your phone or put them in your calendar.

This makes it easier to be intentional with your time and make decisions in the moment about what to do or not. So if decide you’re working from 9am, then when you get invited to a meeting at 08.30am by a client, you know to ask for it to be at a different time.

5. Create separation between work life and home life.

You can do this even if you work from home. If you can, have a separate working space or else pack everything away when you’ve finished so you're not reminded of work or tempted to get back to work. Then once you’ve shut down your computer, go for a short walk or make a cup of tea or sit down to help decompress.

If you find you're still thinking about work in the evenings, make a quick note to plan in time to consider calmly and logically about what you're thinking about now.

6. Prioritise

When you consciously decide when you’re working (and when you’re not), a key skill you’ll need to learn is to prioritise. Because you’ll no longer be thinking “oh I’ll just finish that this evening”, you’ll be more focused to get things done during the working hours you’ve set.

You’ll be more aware of how precious your time is so will only want to spend it on THE most important things. You can’t do everything. And neither should you want to. The key skill is to do the important things and drop the distractions. Prioritising is your best friend. 

7. Be willing to be uncomfortable

Changing habits feels uncomfortable to your brain. If you’re used to working late and cancelling plans with friends, it’s going to feel uncomfortable shutting down your computer when you said you would, saying no to things that aren’t priorities and asking for meetings to be rescheduled.

But remember your reasons why - keep focused on those and it’ll make all the temporary discomfort worth it, knowing you're living more of the life you want.