Myth or Reality: Can you really find the perfect work-life balance?

With most people coming to the end of their much deserved summer holiday break, you may find you’re either in the camp of returning to work feeling fully refreshed or dreading the thought and telling yourself things need to change.  

If you’re in the latter camp, you’ll be trying to figure out how to stop working long hours, weekends or reading emails late at night. You’ll be wanting to work out how to create more time to take up exercise, or to eat healthier and spend time with your partner and family. Perhaps you just want to take time for you in an effort to reduce stress. The way you deal with your situation will either exacerbate things or help you achieve a good work-life balance.

One of the quickest things you can do to move towards a better balance is learning how to say no. You may believe you have no choice, but if you really think about it, you do.  It’s not about flatly refusing, but instead saying no in a more empowered way. Here are some options:

• -          Negotiate deadlines
• -          Delegate more
• -          Leave the office 1 day a week at 530pm
• -          Work from home

What’s stopping you? If you answer honestly, this is the real contributing factor to your state of work-life balance.   If we don’t proactively manage ourselves, that’s when our work-life balance gets out of kilter and stress can become chronic.  Human energy is the most critical resource we have. Energy diminishes both with over use and also under use. Energy expenditure must be balanced with intermittent energy renewal.
 

Some new workplace practices are increasingly being utilised to proactively manage stress and improve work life balance.  Some of these include:

• -          Taking recovery breaks every 90-120 minutes
• -          Increase your capability to think clearly and rehydrate the brain - reduce caffeine and increase water intake
• -          Eat slow-release energy food
• -          Limit meetings to 30 minutes

Four things I’d like to ask:

1. What could you do to maximise your energy?

2. What are your barriers?

3. What are 3 options to overcome these?

4. What will you choose to do differently?

By enacting just one new step over 30 days, you’ll develop a new habit that will benefit your working career. Before you know it be on the path to less stress and better work-life balance.

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How to Remove the Boulder of Procrastination

By Julie Henderson

Are you a person yearning for change, but haven't found the courage? It's possible that you struggle with the pain of removing the boulder of procrastination, which is often what is holding people back from going after their dreams.

We spend far too much thinking about whether we should or should not make a change. We analyze it far too much and this creates "analysis paralysis." When we over-analyze and when we think too much, we become immobilized and stuck: it's called procrastination. Procrastination can be defined as: our associations of what we link pain to. The longer we procrastinate, the longer we stand still, and the longer we stand still, the longer we settle for a life of mediocrity.

Don't despair, because I have discovered some reasons for procrastination and found solutions that will give you the courage to overcome procrastination.

1. Afraid to make a wrong decision. People often procrastinate because they are afraid that it will be a bad decision. There will always be the risk of making wrong decisions. But even bad decisions can be more valuable than no decision at all, because they present an opportunity for learning.

2. Not sure how to accomplish the goal. People often think they have to know exactly how to achieve whatever they want. If you know the "why," the how will take care of itself. There are people you may have been successful in a similar area and you can ask them. There is an old adage, "If there's a will, there's a way."

3. No time. People are strapped for time, yet it is one of the key ingredients for success. Procrastination can actually cost you hundreds of dollars. The demands of a career, raising a family and managing a home can leave a person with little or no time to think about their personal goals. In order to make the changes you desire, you need to schedule an appointment with your dreams and goals. Treat the appointments as you would a dental appointment or a hair appointment.

If you don't figure out how to drive procrastination away, the stark reality is you will be stuck doing the same thing for the rest of your life. Recognize some of the reasons for procrastination as indicated above, and implement the solutions. Whenever procrastination creeps up, you will be conditioned in driving it away. As a result you will be able to pursue any goal.

Julie Henderson is an Unstoppable Success Coach and published author, Expect Success - Be Unstoppable, A Woman's Secret Recipe. If you could you use some strategies on how to become unstoppable, go here http://www.ExpectSuccessBeUnstoppable.com/blog

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Julie_Henderson


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