Parents, I know you are working hard to get that work and life balance. You may wonder can we really achieve that work and life balance? If so, how?
The modern workforce is facing an increasingly demanding and competitive job market and with the cost of living rising faster than expected, every working parent finds it highly challenging to hold both professional and parenting responsibilities.
A poll was done by National Parents Union in Boston and found that 74% of parents are extremely or very concerned about rising costs for everyday goods like gas or food and 65% are worried about their children staying on track in school. The two top issues, according to the survey, are inflation and academic challenges.
Sad to say, this is happening everywhere and with the rising cost of living, we are working harder in order to keep the income coming in to feed our family and because we are spending more time at work we are spending lesser time at home with our children.
With the stressful education system, parents are worried about their children’s academics. Since we are not at home to guide or may not even know the right way to guide our children academically, we packed our children’s schedules with tuition and enrichments.
It comes to a point where I think, is this what I want? Is this healthy?
It is NOT!
This is why I struggled and managed to find a balance between my professional and personal life.
In this blog post, I’ll discuss the importance of working smart in order to manage work and life balance effectively. I’ll also give you some practical tips on how to improve your work-life balance at home by managing family responsibilities better.
What Is Work-Life Balance?
Work-life balance is finding a healthy ratio of time spent at work and time spent with family and friends. It can be difficult to find the right balance between work and life, but if done correctly, it can benefit both aspects of your life.
Work-life balance isn’t about taking a vacation day once a year. It’s not about the idealistic notion that you can magically find the time to love your kids and your spouse while maintaining your career or business.
Work-life balance is about recognizing that both aspects of your life are equally important, but they have different needs and priorities. It’s about understanding when to put your career/business first and when to put your family first.
Why Is It Important To Find a Balance Between Work And Life?
Work is a big part of our society. But it’s important to remember that it’s just one part of our life.
While it’s important to have a successful career/business, it’s just as important to find a healthy balance between work and your personal life. It is not necessary to have a 50-50 kind of balance all the time because is definitely not easy to achieve that. That balance is determined by you.
This means recognizing when you need to put your family first, when you need to put your career/business first and when to put yourself first. Work-life balance is about recognizing your own needs and finding a way to make both your career/business and your family fit into your life seamlessly.
3 Ways To Find Balance Between Work and Life
1. Set Realistic Goals – Set Realistic Goals
Some people encourage setting goals while some discourage them. That’s because when a person works toward a goal, very often we neglect other parts of our life. How I tackle this is, I will reflect on my own priorities and set goals that are more personal to me. For example, reading a book every week and weekly cycling trips with the children.
By setting goals that are more aligned with my own desires, I’m more likely to achieve a work-life balance at home and find a healthy balance between work and life.
2. Create a Supportive Work Environment
Creating a supportive work environment is one of the best ways to ensure a healthy work-life balance. Make sure that your office space, even if it is a home office, is conducive to relaxing, and that your working culture encourages to take frequent breaks. I always set time for some break time so that I can recharge and continue focused work again.
3. Set Appropriate Boundaries – Set Boundaries
There are times when you need to put your family first, especially being a parent. There are also times when you need to put your work first. Setting boundaries will help you to better manage the demands of both aspects of your life.
As I work from home, many times my children will seek my attention since I am so “easily available”. But I do let them know that when I am at work, do allow me to get work done and I will have time for them later. I will set a time to be with them. At the same time, I am also teaching them to focus on their homework and get it done before doing anything else. Be the role model 😉
4 Apps That Can Help You Manage Work-Balance Better
1. Timeneye
A visually appealing productivity tool that helps to keep track of your time spent on different tasks. It helps to manage your time better and it can easily sync with other project software such as Trello, Asana and Google Calendar.
2. Way of Life – Habit Tracker
All of us have some bad habits somewhere – e.g. sleeping in, poor diet, spending too much time online scrolling etc. This tool will help to get rid of your bad habit and develop good ones as it helps to track, identify and change your habits.
I am definitely working hard to get rid of my bad habits for sure!
3. MindMapping (Is not just for academics)
MindMapping is an effective tool for visualizing and organizing thoughts and ideas. It’s also one of the most effective ways to find work-life balance because it helps you organize your thoughts and set priorities.
4. Cozi Family Organiser
A very simple-to-use app for managing time efficiently with your family from setting reminders, grocery lists, family members’ activities, etc. You won’t miss your children’s important dates anymore and have time for everyone!
In conclusion, the environment is changing, regardless of being in a job or running a business. We need to efficiently juggle both work and family responsibilities. It’s important for us to develop work-life balance skills to succeed in an increasingly demanding society and be good role models for our children that help shape them positively.