In the previous articles written and published on this blog, work-life balance has been treated from different angles. For the purpose of this article, work-life balance will still be addressed a little bit.
Work-life balance in simple terms means how well one is able to create a balance between work and everyday life. Balance is created because it doesn’t happen automatically and also because work-life balance is achieved on a personal basis.
Since work-life balance is achieved on a personal basis and effort, the steps on how to achieve this balance will be on a personal basis.
This article will address how to achieve work-life balance in 5 easy steps.
5 Steps to Achieving Work-Life Balance
The following are 5 steps on how to achieve work-life balance:
- Identify where you are
- Discover what needs to change
- Make plans on how to change them
- Execute the plans
- Monitor, evaluate and re-execute
Identify where you are
This is the focal point for any form of change in life. Chances are that you are at a point where you feel like you are having a burnout or feeling less fulfilled with your work or your life or even both of them if you’re reading this article. Identifying that you’re at this point in your life is the first step to creating a balance in your life.
If you’ve identified where you currently are in your life, then, congratulations. You’ve achieved the first step to achieving balance in your life.
Discover what needs to change
Having identified where you are and realizing that changes need to be made, the next step is to discover what needs to be changed.
At this step, one needs to pay attention to every minute detail as it could serve as a clue to determine what the problem is and what needs to be done about the problem. Here, you can identify, for example, if you need to cut down on working hours or get help at home to help with domestic chores or get an assistant to assist you in your workplace, etc.
This step is where you spend time digging into the root of your life and discover what the problem is and how to solve it.
Make plans on how to change them
Once you have identified the problem and the possible solutions to tackle them, the next step is to make plans on how to execute these plans.
Without proper planning, even if you identify what the problem and the solution are, you won’t be able to effectively make the changes required to achieve the balance needed.
For example, if I identify that I need more help at home with the chores and the kids and I do not make the necessary plans regarding employing a help, structuring the help’s pay, the things I need the help exactly for, and making out time to monitor what the help does, then I am likely to run into problems down the line in hiring help.
Therefore, proper plans must be made after the problems have been identified and the solutions also provided for better execution and achievement of balance.
Execute the plans
After planning comes execution. Now that the plans have been made, it’s only a given that they’re executed.
Monitor, Evaluate, and Re-execute
In this step, you have to monitor and evaluate the plans that have been executed and determine if they are tackling the problem effectively and not creating more problems. This step is where the plans are either reinforced or changed or scraped out entirely.
If a plan is good and is achieving the sole aim of creating it, then a re-execution is in order.
Note: it is important to note that each of these steps takes time to achieve. The more thorough one is in each step, the more one can get the most out of each step.
Conclusion
Achieving a work-life balance is very important as it affects your productivity both at home and at work. When you are burnt out from the stress of work and juggling things in your life, it affects how well you can deliver your duties efficiently.
