How Do I Find a Good Work Life Balance?
Balancing Life and Work: Finding Ways to Make Life Easier
Balancing life and work; the working world is a very, very busy place. With more people working in excess of 8 hours a day to meet organizational deadlines and goals, we find ourselves struggling to keep up with the work and often, ourselves.
If you knew of some simple ways to keep your life a little more organized, would you be more at ease throughout the day? There are a few things you can do throughout the day to save you some stress and get your work life, and your life outside, organized.
The Frequent Complaints
- I have no time to cook.
- I can’t workout with my schedule!
- I don’t drink enough water – and it’s because I can’t keep track.
- I can’t focus.
- I can’t stay organized.
- I lose things.
- I work in a small space.
- I have no time to do things I enjoy.
- I live on coffee – but it’s expensive.
- I’m too tired to get things done.
The Solutions
No Time to Cook? That isn’t entirely true.
While it may seem likely that you find your schedule to be demanding of all your time, you may skip meals here and there without batting an eye. This is problematic to your health and metabolism, not to mention your energy and sustainment thereof. What can you do? You can begin by preparing meals over the weekend in advance. This is relatively simple to do nowadays with all of the guides and How-To’s available online. There are weekly meal plans based on making meals ahead of time. Visit sites like Pinterest and AllRecipes to find meal plans that will store for days in the fridge or freezer with little time required to serve on demand. There are much smaller versions of kitchen cookers (Crockpots, toasters, microwaves) that you can also store in your workspace and whip out to use on demand with little effort. Opt for protein bars and meal replacement shakes if you still don’t feel you have enough time to cook. You’ll get the essentials while feeling full.
You Can’t Focus on Your Fitness: Yes, yes you can!
Again, not entirely true. The thing is, most small fitness equipment is affordable and storable. You can take small dumbbells with you anywhere, a Swedish ball instead of a chair, and don’t forget the notorious Shake Weight™. There are a bunch of things you can do in the workspace/place without having a whole lot of time to make sure you get at least the recommended 20-30 minute workout in during the day. Try downloading the 7 Minute Workout App that uses only body weight. You can download the Daily Yoga app and burn some calories while stretching out your otherwise still, stiff muscles and ligaments. You could subscribe to a small gym membership and take 30 minutes of your lunch break to do some quick cardio or a group fitness class. You can definitely do it.
I Don’t Drink Enough Water: You’re 80% Water…
Bring a transparent water bottle with you and mark every 2-4 ounces with a time line. From 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. drink X ounces of water and so forth. You’ll be able to track your intake easily and make time to ensure you’re doing so.
I Can’t Focus at Work: Focus on You, First
Bring some relaxing music to work and pop it in you disk drive. This will give you a sense of meditative concentration while you hammer away at reports. Make sure you take breaks and rather than chatting up other coworkers during this time, step away and find a quiet space you can sit and just relax for your 10-15 minutes of allotted escape time. Don’t focus on work. Even better, use those 10-15 minutes to meditate. There are several tutorials available and apps you can download to your smart phone that will help you with this type of relaxation technique. You will be able to focus much better when you’re grounded.
I Can’t Stay Organized: Find Organizers
Do you have too many cords floating atop your desk? Do you have lists of things to accomplish, but the lists are buried under other things to do? Do you find yourself losing your phone? Losing other materials? If so – look into some medium-sized binder clips, bread ties, business card holders, and DIY organizers – with tutorials on YouTube and Pinterest, you’ll be able to find anything and everything and not stress on organization.
For those Lost Items: You’re Organized… Now Stop Losing Them!
Clean! Clean your space. Do something to sort through and purge the trash, collect what’s important and see the above tip to prevent having to do this again, and again, and again!
I Work in a Small Space and This Can Be Efficient!
Do you know why apartments exist? Because we were running out of room; the property owners decided to build up… the same thing can be applied to your work space. DIY shelving units, organizers, and space-makers can be handy for those that work in cramped areas.
I Have No Time to Do Things I Enjoy: Make Time
Yes. You. Do. Wake up earlier, use your lunch break, use your breaks throughout the day, and take fifteen minutes after your shift ends to devote to you. No. Excuses. Ever. You MUST make yourself a priority. Everything will seem so much more difficult when you can’t take time for yourself.
I Live on Coffee – but it’s SO Expensive! Coffee Solutions on a Budget
Keurig. Keurig. Keurig. Or a small office-sized, or even desk sized coffee maker. Or tea, tea works, too! Buy tea bags and store them at your desk. All you need is a cup and water. Viola!
You’re too tired to Get Things Done: Apply All Tips Here
Get enough sleep. Make sure you use the above mentioned tips; workout, eat, organize, and take time for yourself. Make sure you’re making life easy, not hard(er). It’s important to know that you come first. Without you, your job will suffer, your life will suffer.
It’s easy to forget that you are a human being with human needs while meeting the demands of everyone and everything else. Finding ways for balancing life and work can seem difficult, but it can be done.
It’s easy to forget that you are a human being with human needs while meeting the demands of everyone and everything else. Finding ways for balancing life and work can seem difficult, but it can be done.
No Time to Manage My Files – We have just the solution
So you’re tired of rifling through countless filing cabinets to find the right document. You wish you were spending that time at home with the wife and kids. Instead you’re stuck at work late at night reorganizing and reorganizing the documents that people have messed up during the day. Let Contentverse, document management software, take care of that for you. Watch below to see how it works then pop over to Contentverse.com to sign up for your free demo of the software.
This article was originally titled “Balancing Life and Work: A Few Things to Make Your Work Life Easier” and published on 1/23/14.