30 SIMPLE STRATEGIES FOR WORK LIFE BALANCE

Work life balance doesn’t have to be about magnificent gestures like that amazing holiday or the long weekend in a secluded cabin. Instead, having simple, everyday work life balance strategies that fit into your daily routine is the action that has the biggest impact on managing our stress and work life balance over the long term.

Think of it like this: if you only brushed your teeth every weekend for thirty minutes, your teeth would eventually fall out. But brushing your teeth every morning and night for two minutes at a time will keep your chompers healthy. Work life balance and stress in general work exactly this way.

What is work life balance? Is work life balance important? How do you manage it? See our comprehensive article on work life balance here:

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WHAT SHOULD YOU DO EVERY DAY FOR WORK LIFE BALANCE?

Having a practice that makes you think about your work life balance strategies daily is a great idea to keep it front of mind. That way, instead of getting caught up in day-to-day priorities, you are encouraged to think about longer term priorities like your family, friends and wellness.

You would hope that these areas of work life balance would be a priority for us instead of work emails and deadlines.

That’s great in theory, but unfortunately we’re hardwired to pay attention to things that are urgent, rather than important. From a work point of view, that means that emails and small, easy wins often take precedence over the bigger impact projects without the immediate deadline.

This hardwiring for ‘urgent’ things doesn’t really help us in our quest for work life balance, because things like family, friends and meditation don’t generally fall into the ‘urgent’ category - so work tends to get our attention more than these other important areas.

Writing in a journal is a great way to reflect on these and plan your day, factoring in some work life balance strategies.

30 DAILY WORK LIFE BALANCE STRATEGIES

Stuck for strategies that impact your work life balance on the daily? Look no further. At Performance Lab, outside of work, we think of work life balance as incorporating two other areas: Home & Relationships, and the area of Self. Below, you will find a list of 30 simple, daily things you can do to impact each of these areas. Just like brushing your teeth for two minutes, twice a day, these small things will help you stay balanced. When people ask “what’s work life balance?” these are some of the simple answers.

We don’t expect you to do all of these every day – just pick one or two from the list at the start of the day and factor it into your schedule. Once you read this list, we guarantee you’ll get an avalanche of other ideas as well.

WORK LIFE BALANCE STRATEGIES – HOME & RELATIONSHIPS

1.Call a friend (anyone at all)

2.Meet for coffee/lunch/dinner (anyone at all)

3.Call home/your parents especially if you usually forget to

4.Read to the kids in the morning or before bed

5.Help the kids with home work/assignments

6.Cook dinner (if that’s not what you usually do)

7.Do the school pick up/droop off (again.. if that’s not what you usually do)

8.Drop in and say hi (to anyone)

9.Ask someone about their day (and actually listen)

10.Clean the house - even a bit (if that’s not what you usually do)

11.Tell someone you appreciate them

12.Review your finances and set/review goals

13.Spend some time with your pet/s

14.Do any simple activity with someone, completely undistracted

15.Send a message to someone to tell them you’re thinking of them

WORK LIFE BALANCE STRATEGIES - SELF

16.Workout/Exercise

17.Sit and do nothing for 15 minutes

18.Think about your goals

19.Read a book/article/paper that helps you develop or disconnect

20.Get a massage

21.Do some yoga

22.Listen to a podcast that helps you develop of disconnect

23.Go shopping (for something that will make a difference in your life)

24.Take a bath

25.Colour in

26.Watch a documentary

27.Watch trash to disconnect (but not so much that you waste time)

28.Go for a walk without your phone

29.Devote some time to your hobby

30.Spend some time on a project you actually like

Hopefully these have given you some inspiration to nail those areas every day. There will be some things that happen regularly anyway - but when you’re travelling or when you have a big day at work, some of the smaller things are good to have up your sleeve.

THE FOCUS PLANNER – YOUR WORK LIFE BALANCE ACCOMPLICE

If you’re interested in help with daily prompts for work life balance, the greatest thing the Focus Planner does is that it stops you from forgetting about the important things you have to do.

In the Focus Planner, we have specific areas every day for you to do something that contributes to these balance areas. Many people ask if they need to do something in these areas every single day, and the answer is no… and yes. No, it’s not essential to do something every single day, but if you want to build the habit and constantly strive for your best day, then it really does help.

But you could use any journal really. Journaling for work life balance is as simple as planning your day and deciding to build the practice of being intentional about achieving your best – both at work and beyond.

Check out the Focus Planner: CLICK HERE