Learning the effective communication skills is like finding a great dance groove

Mike has returned to give us some more ideas on work-life balance.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the importance of work-life balance in my life. My life used to be ruled by chaos and stress. I lived in fear and eventually, I dropped one of the balls in the air and the whole thing came crashing down. Today I have a new found sense of peace in my life, and I can only attribute it to finding a good balance. Taking care of myself emotionally, physically and spiritually is how I achieve balance. Here are some tips on how you can too:

1. Challenge Yourself at Work.
   Set goals for yourself about what you want to accomplish at work. I was recently faced with the reality that my work day was just not cutting it. I simply was not getting all the work done and it was making my time at the office more stressful than it needed to be. I decided if I could get to work just 30 minutes earlier every morning and stay 30 minutes later every afternoon, that would give me an extra 5 hours a week. This means getting up earlier, but I decided it would be worth it. What I found was that extra 30 minutes in the morning is invaluable. I get to work before many of my co-workers and those 30 minutes are the most productive of the day because it is quiet and there are no interruptions. It gives me a great jump start to the day. The extra few minutes in the afternoon allow me to stay focused on work until 5pm without being distracted by the clock. Then I can begin wrapping things up knowing that I put in a full day and gave 100%.
2. Organize Yourself at Home
   Staying organized is essential. I’m big on lists, writing things down and even sharing them with someone else. There is a sense of accountability when you put it on paper and certainly when you tell someone else about your plans. I use my Outlook Calendar and sync my mobile device frequently. I maintain a budget, do weekly shopping and plan meals ahead of time. I know when I am taking my lunch and when I am eating out. Sunday evenings are my personal time that I use to iron a few shirts, prepare food for lunches that will be easy to grab on-the-go and get all my ducks in a row for the week ahead. I make phone calls to confirm with friends our time together for the coming week. It helps me tremendously to wake up on Monday morning knowing that my house is in order and all I have to do is get up and go. I have been practicing this for a solid year and it has done wonders for my sense of peace and my attitude.
3. Define Your Idea of Rest
   Take the time to identify the things that you really enjoy and incorporate them into your life. Just start doing the things you keep saying you want to do, somehow we make time for the things that are important to us. For me it’s yoga, exercise and spending time with friends. I made a commitment to myself to exercise at least 4-times a week and get together with friend 2-3 times each week. Define what meets your needs, make a commitment to yourself and stick to it no matter what.

Making work and life balance can be difficult and if we over-analyze it, we will make it unobtainable. My challenge to you is to just do it. Work hard while you’re at work, and start doing the things you enjoy today. Plan your day at the office and plan the other 16 hours of your day, work-life balance is possible, I am living proof that ANYONE can do it.

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