How to Make a Work-Life Balance Work

What does the term ‘Work-Life Balance’ mean to you?

Take a second to reflect on that for a moment.

Would you say you have a genuinely healthy work-life balance?

How do you ensure that your personal and professional life stay in perfect harmony with one another? Is that even possible?

Or do you already know you need a little more balance in your life. Maybe you feel overworked, under-fulfilled or over-stressed at work and/or in life? It’s probably fair to say that most of us at least feel over-fatigued at times, isn’t it?

Actually these could all be signs that your work-life balance isn’t as good as it could be.

What does a real work-life balance look like?

Most of us are striving for some kind of balance between our professional and personal lives, granted, some are better than others at it, but as individuals, we’re all seeking our own version of this balance to truly unwind from work, live fully and recharge our batteries.

For some, heading out to the beach or the mountains for a few days or simply chilling with the family is enough to detox and renew their energy, ready for the week ahead. For others, it requires something a little wilder and more cathartic, like living an alcohol fuelled 3-day blow-out, to reach the level of stress-relief required.

Everyone requires something a little different. But a true work-life balance means a lot more than just occasionally hitting the reset button when work is getting too much to handle and it’s bringing you down.

It’s a lifestyle choice that impacts your short and long term health and happiness!
So where do we even begin to improve our work-life balance?

Maybe We Need an Expert Opinion

Check out this insightful TED Talk by Nigel Marsh, who raises some really interesting as well as comical points about the Work-Life Balance:

So, having watched this TED Talk, how do you rate your current Work-Life Balance? Did if give you any extra food-for-thought?

In a Perfect World

We’re all individuals with different life goals, ambitions, health levels and ideas of what the perfect working day looks like. So again, what does it mean to you?

If you could describe your ideal working day, what would yours be like?
What could you change today that would bring you closer to that ideal? Often these changes are easier than we may imagine.

As a leader, or future leader in business, how could you apply this to your own professional and personal life, moreover, how could you positively influence your employees to improve their work-life balance, too?

Be sure to share your experience and opinion with us on this subject via the comments box below!

Did this article resonate with you, or do you know someone who could do with hearing this message?

Feel free to share this with your friends and colleagues on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Best,

Adam

For the definitions of the highlighted words check our Glossary.