The secrets of work-life balance: work smarter, not harder
Our working lives have fundamentally changed in a very short period of time. A number of forces have come together to make work more emotionally demanding and less rewarding, taking away much of our control and having a greater impact on our entire existence. Work is also entering homes and private lives far too often, changing our balance and natural working equilibrium.
Big Relationships
I have a simple but effective exercise that can have an immediate impact, based on interviews with highly successful businessmen and businesswomen from all over the world.
List the 10-12 most important relationships you have in business and they could be in the area both internally and external. The first thing to realise about these individuals is they have a major impact on your effectiveness, achievement and level of career fulfilment. Improving these relationships can only lead to a greater flow of critical information, happiness, success and a greater sense of reward.
Keys to Improving Your Work-Life Balance
Here are my 10 secrets to improving your work-life balance:
1) Define success – without some kind of yardstick it’s difficult to know how well we are doing or where we really want to be. One thing is for sure, money is not the same as success!
2) Get in control – working in an environment unable to manage things the way we would like is stressful. Someone else is pulling all the strings. Over time reduce as many of these elements as possible.
3) Comfort zone – take on tasks which get you thinking outside your usual frame of reference.
4) Technology – try to learn 1 new technological thing each month. It’s only a matter of time before many become useful.
5) Create room – clear-out some of those existing preconceptions, activities and outdated knowledge to create space for new things.
6) Challenge norms – if you don’t challenge your behavioural traits, customers might just get there first.
7) Moving target – as our careers evolve, so do the things that make us happy and more fulfilled. Finding the tasks that improve our self-esteem and confidence is a continual moving goal, needing to be tracked.
8) Results only – evaluate people you deal with by their results only not how long they spend at their desk or how quickly they get in contact.
9) Staying positive – try to spend more time with people who are positive, get things done and open to change.
10) Change - anyone who thinks they have seen the tail-end of this workplace revolution, needs to hold onto their hat. The ride could get bumpy!
Good luck on your journey!
About the Author
You can read more about work-life balance and how to think like an entrepreneur at jimbanting.com.
Jim is an entrepreneur who is involved in a number of businesses ranging from internet start-ups, graphic design, publishing, property and digital media.
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