Method 1: Manage your time
1. Try to separate work and play. This is the age of online learning and working remotely, where you can stay home all day and accomplish all sorts of things. Taking classes or working remotely makes your home life more flexible. However, there is a downside to this approach, and that is that work or school can creep into your home life. When there is always work at hand, it can be difficult to take a break from it. What's more, with the residence and office merging into one, there's no longer a clear separation, in which case it's hard for you to switch from your work to your personal life. To solve this problem, you need to prepare a special work area. If you work remotely or take classes online, you'll find it much more efficient to do things at a local library, a coffee shop, a creator community dedicated to students or remote workers. You can leave that environment once you've completed your task, which can help you switch to your personal life.
If you have to work from home, then try to make a space dedicated to work. You can set up a dedicated home office or make a space at your kitchen table. It doesn't matter if you occasionally work elsewhere.
If you work in a traditional office, make sure you try to relax so that you can move from work to personal life after work. For example, you can listen to music or an audiobook on the way home, hit the gym, or call a friend for a chat.
2. Set priorities. Maintaining a balance between your work life and personal life is like walking a tightrope. To walk smoothly, you need to prioritize things. That way, when it comes to crunch time or emergencies, you won't have to obsess about which things are most important. Make a list of the most important things in your life, whether it's your family, emotional relationships, work or spiritual life, or whether it's volunteering, staying active, maintaining a social circle or other interests.
Take a good look at this list and rank these things. Rank the most important first, the second most important second, and so on. Your ordering will allow you to prioritize things. This way, you can incorporate the most important things into your calendar and weekly schedule.
3. Make schedules and stick to them. If a week goes by in a blur and you can't recall what you accomplished, then you should take a week and keep a good record of everything you did. As the week passes, you will have a better idea of how you should fit different work or school tasks, personal activities or errands into your schedule. The most helpful thing to do is to create a weekly schedule that covers everything routine, incorporating work, classes, church attendance, social events, and other one-time activities. Then, based on your priorities, make a personal to-do list of tasks each night and save it for the next day.
The schedule list should highlight the three most important tasks (other than work or school) that need to be accomplished that day. This can be work tasks, such as giving a presentation, or personal tasks, such as going to the dentist or watching your daughter's ballet performance.
If you feel that such a list is too restrictive, make two lists, one of three major work or school tasks and another of three major family tasks. As long as you accomplish these three to six tasks each day, you will be able to get through the day efficiently.
4. Deal with procrastination. Procrastination is a major obstacle that prevents you from balancing your work and personal life. Since you always procrastinate until the last minute to get things done, your work and personal life can intrude on each other. This causes you to work late or get distracted by personal matters while working. One way to overcome procrastination is to write down your original intention for pursuing education, embarking on a certain career path, or doing something else. For example, if you want to help people, then you might want to approach tasks with this inner mission in mind: these tasks will help you achieve your goal of helping people. Make a list of the various reasons for doing things, post it where you work, and look at it when you lack motivation.
Another way to beat procrastination and get things done is to break larger tasks into multiple smaller ones. Doing this will make the whole big task seem less intimidating, and you'll become more and more motivated as you gradually complete the smaller tasks.
5. Eliminate the things that distract you. You'd be surprised if you knew how many things that distract you are eating up your time and reducing your efficiency. One study estimates that most people spend 20 minutes an hour dealing with things that distract them from their plans. As a result, they spend a full two hours a day refocusing their attention. If you can try to eliminate the things that keep you from concentrating on your work, you can prevent them from continuing to intrude on your personal life after you leave work. Try these tips to eliminate distractions: Focus on important tasks instead of urgent ones - urgent tasks require you to be reactive, while important tasks require you to be proactive
Turn off notifications on your cell phone or computer
Keep your workspace organized
Put your cell phone away
Turn off unused notifications on your computer. p>Shut down programs on your computer that you don't use often
Get a drink of water, snack, or go to the restroom only during a regular mini-break, and try not to interrupt your work
6. Get creative. No matter how hard you try to keep your balance, there will always be a situation where two urgent things come together. At this point, you should learn to play creative, think of possible ways to deal with the emergency situation, while dealing with another thing. For example, maybe you work overtime every week and can't hang out with your significant other. Well, you might want to make a point of lighting candles at dinner to create a romantic atmosphere, or find an evening to sit on the couch with your partner and watch a well-chosen movie. Doing so won't take up too much of your time and will prevent your partner from feeling left out.
You might be able to cut back on your workload by putting off big projects or sharing work with a colleague. If you can't reduce your workload, then plan how you can use your lunch break to go to the park with your family or take them to a company picnic.
Method 2: Establish boundaries
1. Assess your situation. No matter how hard you try to find balance, there will always be times when you need to cross the boundaries between your work and personal life, especially if you have small children. Think about the situations in your work and personal life that require you to make a move across the border. Think about your family and your personal responsibilities. When you work, how often do they need your care? How often do you need to fulfill your family responsibilities? For example, if you have young children, it may be necessary to adjust your work schedule around your children's living arrangements. Or, if you are the primary caregiver for your children and work from home, it may be necessary for you to put your work at hand on hold and take some time to attend to your children's needs first whenever they are in need.
Sometimes, you may have to take care of work before tending to your personal life. For example, if you're an on-call health care provider, sometimes you may have to cancel certain arrangements in your personal life in favor of work.
2. Taking care of your body. In the workplace, at school, or at home, we may prioritize the needs of others and neglect the needs of our own bodies. Unfortunately, once you neglect your health, you may pay a high price for it, such as having to miss work or school and being unable to participate in various social and family activities. If you worry about not being able to accomplish all your tasks, you create stress for yourself; if not handled well, stress can be detrimental to your physical and mental health. To de-stress and get fit, make sure you exercise a few times a week. You can join your company's sports team, jog around the block with your partner, or go to your local gym.
Besides exercise, eating a balanced diet, getting enough sleep, and participating in outdoor hobbies every day can help you beat stress.
3. Maintain your hobbies. When work, school, or relationships urgently need our attention, we may give up hobbies in order to deal with those pressing matters. The problem is that once we give up these hobbies, we can't detoxify our work and personal stress. You should try to protect your spare time by continuing to participate in social and hobby activities. After completing a lot of work, take a break and enjoy your hobbies.
Another way to maintain your hobbies is to incorporate them into your schedule. Treat it like a work project or family obligation, and put your pottery class or book club activity on the calendar as well.
4. Learn to say no. At first, you may think it's rude or selfish to say no, but after a few more tries, you may find that selectively putting off projects or opportunities frees you up. It's okay to say yes to people's requests if they not only align with your top priorities, but also don't interfere with your tight schedule. Here's how to say no: Show the person that you understand their request is important by saying, "This sounds like a great opportunity, but?"
Shortly explain, for example, "Frankly, it's a little out of my league," or "I've got a lot of deadlines.
Suggest alternatives to the other person. For example, you could say, "I can't do it, but I think Xiao Wang can do it."
5. Make trade-offs. If work and family life constantly exhaust you, it is necessary for you to make some trade-offs between the two. Otherwise, you will be under a lot of stress and moping all the time. Take a good look at your life and see which side needs more space. Are you constantly getting phone calls that require you to rush back to the office from home? Does your boss always throw a bunch of last minute tasks at you? Does your financial situation allow you to reduce your workload? If most of your answers are yes, it's a sign that work may be intruding on your personal life, but you may be able to talk to your boss to see if you can cut back on your hours or workload.
If you're a working mom, working shorter hours might make you feel more satisfied. Studies have shown that women are happier when they can work shorter hours to attend to family needs.
Does your partner or spouse often interrupt you for some non-urgent matter at home? Are you having trouble performing at work because you've been out all night having fun with friends or your partner? Do you have to leave your work behind to attend to errands or do a lot of housework? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, then your home life is killing your ability to work. You must determine whether you want to draw a line in the sand with those in your family who constantly interrupt your work.
Method 3: Dealing with Social Media
1. Establish separate images for your workplace and personal life. Social media is so ingrained in most people's work and home lives that it can be difficult to separate a workplace image from a personal life image. If you're active online both at work and in your spare time, it's important to separate your work and personal images, and to monitor what you're posting online to make sure it's consistent with your different identities. Many people choose to use LinkedIn to maintain workplace contacts or academic connections, and Facebook or Instagram to interact with family or friends.
2. Be sure to clarify how you handle work data and personal data. If you're a remote worker, you must be clear about what the company's policy is on dividing work data and personal data. Some companies provide employees with separate devices (such as phones and computers), stipulating that these devices can only be used for work. Other companies allow employees to use their personal devices for work. Look for guidelines related to these things. Also, always make sure that all personal data, such as contacts, photos and music, are properly backed up.
3. Limit the amount of time you're active online. If your work is dependent on social media, you may find that you're actually using it much more than you need to for your job. The practice of logging in several times a day or checking in whenever a notification pops up can disrupt not only your work, but your personal life as well. You can disconnect from the internet for a few hours a day. Or, pick a short period of time to interact with friends or fans, then log out of your account and don't log in again for the rest of the day.
Method 4: Work from home
1. Try to keep regular hours. It can be difficult to keep regular hours every day, but doing so can help you separate your work from your home life. Choose realistic working hours and then stick to them. For example, you might set your work hours as 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Don't let work hours encroach on personal time. When it's time for the day to end, stop the task at hand, close your laptop and leave the workroom.
Try to harmonize work time with your personal life. For example, if you have something else you want to do on the weekend, then try to avoid working on the weekend.
2. Even if you work from home, dress formally. Change into professional clothes in the morning and change back into something else in the evening. Rolling out of bed in the morning and walking straight to the workroom in your pajamas is not conducive to your transition to work. Still wearing professional clothes at night is not conducive to switching back to your personal life. Try to wake up 30 to 60 minutes before you start work so you can get dressed and ready for work.
When it's time to relax, be sure to change out of your professional attire. Let's say you can change into pajamas or your favorite jeans and t-shirt.
3. Take a lunch break. When you work in an office, taking a lunch break is essential, and others may remind you to do so. However, when you work from home, you may not always remember to take a lunch break. You may not be able to stop working continuously or eating lunch in between jobs. This is not a good idea, and you should make your lunch break a necessary part of your day. Establish a starting and ending time for your lunch break each day. For example, you could make 12 to 12:30 p.m. every day your lunch break.
Ask a family member or significant other to remind you to take a break during your lunch break. If you're worried about forgetting your lunch break, then ask a friend or family member to remind you then.
4. Stop yourself from doing household chores. It can be tempting to do some household chores when you take a break or make a work call, but doing so blurs the line between work and home life, so you shouldn't do it. Don't do chores while you're at work, and don't do anything that isn't work-related. If you find yourself tempted to complete a particular chore, then write that chore down on a notepad and take care of it when you're done for the day.
Remember that methods always vary from person to person. Let's say if you find that folding laundry during your mini-break helps you relax, then go ahead and fold the laundry!
5. Treat yourself at the end of each day at work. It's important to find a simple way to reward yourself for a hard day's labor. You can go out for a walk, have a cup of coffee, chat with a friend, or declare the end of the day with some other enjoyable activity. At the end of the day, it's a good idea to participate in some social activities. Working from home may isolate you from the crowd and it is necessary that you try to interact with others. You can chat with your significant other at the end of the workday, meet some friends out for coffee, or join an aerobics class.
Method 5: Balance childcare and work
1. Make your schedule flexible. Fixed hours may not work for everyone, especially those with young children. You may have to adjust to a pace like working 5 to 10 minutes at a time in order to meet your child's needs, or you may have to finish work in the evening that didn't get done during the day. If you're a work-from-home parent, you may also need to be flexible with your schedule to balance work and personal life. For example, if you work from home with young children in tow, you may have to wait until the children go to bed or your partner comes home in the evening before working for an hour or two.
If you plan to be flexible with your schedule to accommodate your children, be sure to ask your employer or client for permission. If your employer expects you to work a set number of hours each day, you may not be able to be flexible with your schedule. However, if you're a freelancer, you may be able to work as many days or nights as you like.
2. Utilize other ways to care for your children. It's not a bad idea to hire someone to take care of your kids for a few hours a day. If your child's grandparents or other family members live nearby and are willing to spend a few hours a day helping you care for your child, you should probably ask them to help. Think about what you and your child's temporary caregiver would be willing to accept. For example, you could have the parents come to your house, or you could send the child to his grandmother's for a playdate a couple times a week.
If finances allow, it's a good idea to pay for a trusted babysitter to help with childcare. If you've never had a good nanny, ask friends and family for recommendations.
3. Let the kids have fun with a variety of game boxes while you're at work. If you can't find someone to watch the kids while you work during the day, then you need to think of other ways to give the kids something to do while you're at work. One way to do this is to create a play box filled with all sorts of fun things so that the kids have something to do while you are at work. The play box should be filled with a variety of toys and gadgets so that the kids can have fun while you are at work. For example, the caddy can be filled with crayons, playdough, coloring books, stickers, puzzles, and other toys just for kids.
Prepare the play box one night in advance and place it near your workspace. You can find an empty shoebox or other small box and pick some of your child's toys or other trinkets to put in the box. You can even put in a surprise gift, such as a new coloring book or a stack of new stickers.
You can also make play boxes with different themes. For example, if you want to teach your child to recognize colors, you can make a box for red toys, a box for blue toys, and so on. You can also make a game box with a certain theme based on your child's favorite movie, book, show, or character.
4. Stay in the same room as your child at work. Doing so makes it easier to keep an eye on your child and provides more entertainment options when your child needs them. For example, if you work out of your home office, find an area to lay out a special blanket or play mat on which your child can play with his favorite toys. You may also need to learn how to work while talking and playing with your child. Interacting with your child while you work is a skill that you can develop with practice.
If you have a backyard where your child can play, or a park near your home that has a playground, consider taking your child outside with your work one afternoon.