Holiday Cheer: Practice Work-Life Balance
Defining your own personal vision of work-life balance is a recommendation I make to my clients during my time management coaching, consulting, and workshop facilitation.
To begin shaping your definition of work-life balance, here are four questions to ask yourself:
How many hours per day do you want to work?
How many of these hours do you want to work at home (outside of your “workday”)?
How many days per week do you want to work?
How much time do you want to invest in yourself each day or each week for recharging?
When you define what work-life balance means to you, you clarify a measurable target for your brain. When your brain understands what it is you seek, it allows logic to creep in and make decisions. When, instead, emotions rule our decision-making, we tend to work longer to get that one more thing done out of fear of disappointing others (what I call FODO). When logic is allowed entrance, suddenly it doesn’t seem so rational to work around the clock, to not be fully present in our personal life and to not invest in our well-being by resting.
The new year is just around the corner, but there’s no need to wait to start implementing your vision of work-life balance.
Sure, the holidays can be a frenzied time of year with decorations to hang, food to cook, friends to visit, parties to attend, gifts to purchase…you get the idea. But it’s important that amidst all of this celebratory rushing around you’ll do when you leave the office, you take some time for yourself.
Let your colleagues know that you’ll be offline tonight. Put your phone down for two hours (or more!) and experience being fully present during the chaos of the holidays. Even better, experience waking up the next morning having survived not working for one evening. It’s more than possible. You can do it!
For the complete guide to a half-day staycation or four-week vacation, check out The Great Escape: A Vacation Planner for Busy People Who Want to Take a Real Break from Work & Life.
