Achieving Balance

In this article:

What is work-life balance?

Practical tips for achieving balance at home and work

Some additional tips for saving time at work

Top 10 list of ways to balance home and work

Additional online resources

How Can I Achieve Work-Life Balance?

It is a plea uttered in desperation when your already crammed day derails with "just one more thing" and you're left scrambling to find someone to pick up your two year old before the day care center closes. Or it could be a call from that same center at eleven in the morning telling you that your child has a fever, please pick her up. In the meantime, you have an important meeting scheduled for 2:00 PM and you can't reach your spouse. If you happen to be in your forties or older, it just might be the dreaded elder care crisis that had always been something that happened to someone else but wasn't going to happen to your parents.

Unplanned situations like these are guaranteed to create enormous stress and make us long for something simpler and less complicated. But unfortunately we live in a complex world that is dominated by long work weeks, dual wage-earner families and single parent households where time is in short supply. Consider the following statistics:

  • There are 11.9 million single parent households in the U.S. and 28% of all children under the age of eighteen live with one parent---U.S. Census Bureau
  • An estimated 60% of women with children younger than six are currently employed --- U.S. Bureau of Labor
  • As of 2003, more than 34 million Americans are sixty-five or older. By 2020, the number is projected to be 53 million --- U.S. Census Bureau

It is safe to say that life is going to be more complicated for most of us given those demographics, since we, as family members, still provide the vast majority of child and elder caregiving in the United States.

What is Work-Life Balance?

So how do we define "Balance" in today's complex world? It would seem that no one definition will work, primarily because everyone has a different threshold where they feel balanced and centered. Balance is really the sum of all the demands that are coming at us from external sources and our ability to control and manage those situations. It is our ability to process, prioritize and delegate that can give us a measure of stability.

Perhaps the best way to understand balance is by knowing the signs of imbalance. Imbalance creates stress, and prolonged stress can produce:

  • Fatigue
  • Anger or resentment
  • A sense of sadness or depression
  • Family dissatisfaction
  • Dissatisfaction with work

These symptoms left unchecked can result in burnout or stress-related illnesses. There is a tendency to continually take on every task because we don't want to let others down. There is also an image perpetuated in the media of perfection that doesn't match reality but nonetheless we try to live up to so that we don't feel inadequate. Given how important it is to regain a sense of balance, we need to step off the treadmill for a minute in order to take stock of our life and prioritize our essential needs and values.

It is also essential to recognize our own needs. We all require some time for ourselves for exercise, family fun and simple quiet time. If we never have that time, we may become frustrated, fatigued and suffer burnout.

Practical Tips for Achieving Balance

Home:
Once we have taken the time to process the competing demands of work and family, we can then begin to prioritize them, sorting out between the essential and non-essential. This process is not a one-time event but rather an ongoing process since priorities change over time.

Another essential element is delegation. Even young children are capable of performing chores. A six year old can take out the trash, help clear the table; an older child can fold and put away the wash. Delegating will not only be a time saver for you (which may allow you the time to read a story to your child or go for a walk) but will teach your children responsibility and discipline. While it may be true that sometimes getting children to work is harder than doing it yourself, if you invest the time up front, the rewards for you and your children will be well worth the effort.

Work:
At work, take time each day to prioritize tasks based on their immediacy and importance. If possible, enlist help for large projects. For important, high-priority projects start early when your energy level is at its peak. This will also allow you extra time in case of interruptions or competing demands. If the project is large, break it into component parts. This will give you a sense of accomplishment.

Some additional tips for saving time at work include:

  • Avoid procrastination. The more you delay, the less likely you will finish on time and the more likely another priority will come along that will increase your stress and feeling of not being in control.
  • Do not over-commit. Decide what you can realistically accomplish. If another assignment or project comes to you and takes priority, try to negotiate on the other items on your list.
  • Finish one project before starting another. Multi-tasking is a common buzz word today, but often by trying to do too many things at once, mistakes are made which cost more time in the long-run.
  • Get enough rest. Most people need seven to eight hours of sleep each night. Less sleep usually means decreased efficiency and more mistakes. With enough sleep you will be alert and efficient.
  • Tie up loose ends each day. Finish whatever you can and plan how the work will get done for the next day. You will feel better organized and less overwhelmed.

Remember, achieving balance is about gaining control off your life instead of events controlling you. The input will never stop; it is how you manage it that's important to your sense of well-being and balance.

Top Ten Tips taken from Department of Psychiatry, Penn Behavioral Health, University of
Pennsylvania Health System

Top 10 List of Ways to Balance Home and Work

  1. Determine which aspects of your life compete most for your energy and time.
  2. Evaluate how you currently handle those competing interests.
  3. Recognize where most of your resources are spent and determine why.
  4. Imagine in a perfect world where you would most like to divide your time.
  5. Explore ways to change negative aspects of time investment into positive ones.
  6. Connect personal values and beliefs with setting boundaries and priorities.
  7. Define the difference between your needs and your wants.
  8. Set realistic goals and objectives for your future interests and desires.
  9. Put action plans behind those goals and write, post and communicate them.
  10. Gain control over your life by being assertive, finding greater satisfaction in the things you currently do and reducing your overall stress.

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Source: "Care Note - "How Can I Achieve Work-Life Balance?" - Department of Psychiatry, Penn Behavioral Health, University of Pennsylvania Health System