What were your New Year’s resolutions? Lose weight? Spend more time with your kids? Learn to golf? Push your career forward?
Sticking with any of your 2023 goals requires an even broader achievement: finding a stable work/life balance. Unfortunately, this can prove difficult. Four out of 10 workers say they haven’t found a good equilibrium between their careers and their personal lives.
If you’ve struggled with this issue in the past, the start of a new year gives you a fresh chance. Take the opportunity to think about your current work/life dynamic and discover ways to put the demands on your time in better balance. Here are some steps you can take:
Initiatives to Take for a Better Work/Life Balance
Understand Your Priorities
Figure out what matters to you. This will help you set your priorities. That means determining the career objectives you want to achieve, both in the short term and over the long haul.
At the same time, figure out your personal goals. This can include things like more family time or progress you want to make on a particular hobby. Once you have these competing targets in mind, you can start to develop a system for achieving everything you want.
Make a Schedule (and Stick to It)
You probably use a detailed schedule to keep your workday as efficient and productive as possible. It probably doesn’t sound particularly fun or spontaneous to apply the same kind of rigor to your personal life. However, leveraging your time-management skills could help you reach the equilibrium you need.
Know when key events are happening with your family or outside interests. Arrange your work plans to ensure that you are free for these important dates. Similarly, understand when work will need to take priority and try to avoid scheduling any critical personal activities during that time.
Keep the Lines of Communication Open
Once you’ve developed an overall schedule, taking into account both work and personal responsibilities, you’ll need to coordinate these conflicting demands for your time. After all, you aren’t the only person involved. On the work side, you have your supervisors and coworkers to consider. On the other, your friends and family will want to have a say.
As such, communication becomes a critical component to maintaining a strong work/life balance. Keep a dialog going with everyone involved. These discussions will help you set priorities and give others enough time to adjust to your schedule.
Work Towards Your Ideal Work/Home Structure
What concessions from your employer make your life easier? Would you benefit from a remote or hybrid schedule? What about other forms of support, like reimbursements for travel or childcare?
Outline a wish list that would facilitate your best-possible work/life balance. Then, talk to your employer. You might be able to get some of the help you need. Even if it isn’t available immediately, you can make scoring those benefits a long-term goal — something you can bring up after your next stellar review.
Respond to Changing Times
Your definition of the ideal work/life balance will change over time. The amount of attention required at work will wax and wane over your career. Meanwhile, your personal goals will develop as you begin and end relationships, have children, take care of aging relatives, add hobbies, go back to school, or need additional time.
The key here is to reassess your needs over time. Consider work/life balance a fluid concept. Helped by input from your loved ones, stay flexible to changing times and re-evaluate your priorities as needed.
Looking for an Opportunity with a Better Work/Life Balance?
The key to a great work/life balance is having the right employer. A top recruiter, like ABLE Associates, can connect you with the best companies in your industry.
Contact ABLE today to find the ideal situation for you.