6 Things To Remember About the Work Life Balance

Let’s talk about that elusive work life balance. You’d have heard the phrase and seen endless blog posts, articles, podcasts and more about the topic of trying to balance work and life and have it all. So I’m going to stick my two cents in, whether you wanted to hear it or not. That’s the thing about the internet, we can all stick our two cents in on almost any topic – whether we’re qualified or not.

That’s the thing about the work life balance though, you don’t need to be qualified in anything in order to have experienced it. Everyone who works will have some sort of work life balance.

It just depends on how well you manage it.

I think there’s probably plenty of misconceptions about the work life balance. Those perfect ratios we’re all supposed to hit, in order to achieve that ideal work life balance within our lives.

The thing with these strategies is that it doesn’t take into consideration in a ton of things that really matter when it comes to establishing a work life balance for yourself.

And that’s what I wanted to have a chat about today.

Because it’s not black and white and you could be reading one of these articles, written by a so-called professional, thinking, “well, I don’t do any of those things, how am I ever going to have a healthy work life balance?”

Don’t panic, my sweet friend.

Here are 6 things to remember about the work life balance:

It doesn’t exist

The perfect work life balance does not exist – and the quicker you realise that, the happier we will all be. What’s the point in striving for something that literally is a figment of our imagination?

Okay, bit dramatic but seriously, the perfect balance isn’t real and there’s a whole host of reasons for that, which we’re going to get into below. But first and foremost, if you find yourself struggling, remember that it’s an illusion. And you can’t play with magic.

It’s different for everyone

One of the main reasons why we can’t achieve that perfect balance with strategies given to us is because those ratios and strategies don’t take into consideration the fact that it is different for everyone.

It’s different depending on your job, your family circumstances, whether you have children or not, if you’re disabled – the list goes on. How can we all be lumped together to find this perfect balance when all our lives are vastly different?

It will change depending on your circumstances

And when you stop comparing your own work life balance to other people (which is a good first step), you need to remember that it will change depending on your OWN circumstances too.

Got a new job? It’ll probably change. Having a baby? It will definitely change. Moving house? Changed. Every decision you make for your life will require you to adapt your idea of your work life balance. And that’s okay.

It can overlap 

I think we need to stop putting work and life into two such strict categories. Of course this works for some people who want to totally separate their lives but we can absolutely have moments of both in each.

For example, a break at work which allows you to have a coffee and catch up with a colleague could be considered a sweet little snippet of life within your work day.

This point definitely applies to those who might be self-employed and especially content creators, who often find a lot of overlap within their lives, like me!

It’s not a competition

Let’s stop with the comparison entirely, it doesn’t matter what anyone else’s work life balance looks like. All that matters is how yours feels to you.

And don’t forget the age old pointer about how you don’t really know what’s going on with someone else – especially if all you see from them is online.

There are productive things you can do to help

If you want to actively improve your work life balance, then you absolutely can do that. There are things you can put in place like boundaries with other people (and with yourself) to help achieve this.

You might also want to think about your priorities. Are you prioritizing something that you really don’t want to be? How can you change that to positively impact you?

I’d also add that being organized and planning your time can help a lot with this. Whether your a physical or digital planner, find a system that works for you so you can manage your time more effectively.

All of these pointers are important reminders for you if you’re feeling out of whack with the balance in your life.

We will all feel out of whack at some points or another. Some times in our life will certainly require us to focus more on the work aspect and others, life is more at the forefront.

That’s also part of finding that balance, knowing that some times will have us focusing on one thing much more than another.

If you’ve been struggling with the work life balance in your life, I hope this post gave you a bit of insight and opened your eyes to how you can approach it going forward!

Do you find you have a good balance? What strategies do you have in place to ensure you can manage it? Let me know.

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