What is your mission and vision for work or at home? Do you have one? If not, it’s time to start creating balance between your personal life and business and create a clear mission and vision statement for yourself!
There is a saying… “show me your friends, and I’ll show you your future.”
Well, the same applies to “show me your schedule, and I’ll show you your future.” Your schedule TODAY will have a direct impact on your FUTURE well-being.
If your professional and personal life are balanced today, then so will your future. To perform well and successfully, you genuinely need to have balance. But the trick is how to do this when it’s all so overwhelming?
How to create balance between your personal life and business
Develop your own mission:
The answer is to know what matters to you the most! What are your values? Who are you when no one is looking? This blog offers simple steps on how to attain your mission and vision for a balanced life to not let your professional or personal life control you.
Choose your top 4 areas of life:
So, how can you attain balance? First, you need to choose your top four areas that matter to you the most both at work and at home. In fact, they can be very different and not related to each other at all.
When I was pregnant, I always asked that my children would be physically, emotionally, spiritually, and mentally healthy. At work, I always asked for trust, collegiality, creativity, and transparency.
A. Circle the four areas that matter to you at work.
B. Circle the four areas that matter to you at home.
C. And then ensure that these are consistently reflected in your schedule.
- Alone time, downtime and quiet time
- Family time
- Friendship
- Romance
- Physical
- Nutrition
- Health
- Emotional
- Mental
- Spiritual
- Environment
- Nature and outdoors
- Intellectual
- Other (write in your own)
Prioritize your #1 top area of work and at home.
Once you have your top four, then choose your number one.
When you can differentiate between your top priority, then you will be able to make healthier decisions when it comes to last-minute or unplanned scheduling. When your top value at work is needed, then you can put your home life on hold.
On the other hand, when your top value from home pops up, then you can prioritize home overwork. For example, if at work, your number one priority is friendships, and your number one personal life priority is health, then this is your check balance.
When your colleagues are meeting on zoom for a social cocktail hour or a coffee talk group call, then that is what you will schedule into your calendar. However, if all of a sudden, a health issue pops up, then you will skip the zoom and immediately call the doctor.
Once you know which areas to prioritize, then you can focus your attention on having your schedule reflect what is needed accordingly.
Develop your own vision of life: What do you prioritize?
To create balance between your personal life and business, all four areas have to be scheduled. Answer the following questions and then include them in your weekly or monthly reminders:
- What do you want?
- What three emotions do you want to feel when you look back?
- What do you want these areas to look like every ten years?
- If you had extra time, what is the fifth area you would include and make time?
Your different roles or titles at work and at home:
Everyone has different roles and titles, both at work and at home. It’s important to know what they are, and it’s even more important to be aware of how they impact you and your schedule.
Roles- Are you the comedian, the fixer, the peacemaker, or the problem solver? What else?
Titles at home- Are you the baker, the photographer, the hero, the neighborhood watch, the consistent parent? What else?
Titles at work- For example, are you the boss, the calm colleague, the creative one, the peacemaker, or the planner?
Once your different roles and titles have been identified, it’s time to consider the following questions:
- Which did you choose yourself?
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- Which has been assigned by others?
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- Which roles do you want to let go?
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- Which roles would you like to add?
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Less is more: Having too many roles and titles creates stress as there isn’t time to do all of them well, let alone with excellence.
Choose the maximum number of roles and titles you are willing to juggle or balance, and then consider temporarily removing others. Know what the maximum number of areas of life you are willing to balance at any one given time.
Some can manage 7, others only 3, and others may be able to take on 9. There is no right number for all, there is only one right amount for you! How many can you manage and balance successfully and still have well-being?
Don’t just pencil it in your calendar… Schedule it!
At work, we somehow always make time for important or urgent meetings. At home, if a loved one needs to go to urgent care, you drop everything, including that urgent work meeting. If your pet needs to go to the vet, you would immediately schedule it.
The key is to schedule or make decisions based on your priority with the time available. While you will automatically schedule your number one top priority, you need to not just pencil in but to schedule all four of your areas on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.
If you don’t actually schedule these other areas, then the only activity you can guarantee that will definitely occur in your calendar are either emergencies or just your number one top area.
What matters is knowing that you are in control of your schedule and not the other way around. Your areas of life need to inspire you, not control you.
If you’re ready to take the next step, explore personal development coaching!
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