BUSINESS TIP: Balance it!

Did you know that 17 per cent of Australia's are stressed? It's no secret that too many of us are too overwhelmed, pressured and short of time to pursue the things that would really make us happy. Today, more than any other time before, we can access information at the drop of a hat. There seems to be a record number of corporate health workshops and seminars available, which claim to be able to offer us the elusive quality of life - "balance". But what is really the big challenge is how to put common knowledge into common practice. How do you as a individual find your own right path that will lead you to a better quality and appreciation of life?

In this hectic world, a career and our work seem to take centre stage at the detriment of our health, personal relationships and family life. We now work longer hours than we ever have before, which greatly reduces our ability in finding a balance between our working life and our lives outside of it. It's easy to take focus on the immediate work demands and "put off' other aspects of your life such as home life, leisure, relaxation and fun because they are not as pressing and seemingly unimportant. For you to achieve a sense of work-life balance, something in you life has to change. So here is where to start.

Become aware.
Where are you at the moment? In order to change something, you need to apply self-review and assessment to see where you currently are. This step is often forgotten by many and is normally the cause of failure. To change any behaviour, you need to get an understanding of what your values and beliefs are to that behaviour. Get your diary and look at everything that you are planning to accomplish in the next month. Which of these tasks are your biggest time wasting activities? Reduce your time spent on these tasks by half and you will be amazing at how much extra time you now have.

Destress.
A good indicator of being out of balance in your life is stress – the feeling of being overwhelmed, tired or even worse, exhausted. To distress you need to look at each symptom and make it a priority to address each one. Don’t forget that how you perceive something plays a bit role in how stressed you become. You may need to fine-tune your perceptions. Make a list of all the areas of self-perception that need a change and work towards changing your thinking. Relaxation and stress reduction strategies such as yoga or mediation are perfect for destressing.

Time management.
Good time management is something you may be lacking. Now, good time management skills are not about fitting as much in to your day as possible – this isn’t going to create a better balance. Increasing balance in life is about increasing the number of things in your life that are meaningful to you. Ask yourself what are your top five priorities. Does leisure or health make your five three? Because if it doesn’t it’s probably not a huge priority for you, so why would you consider going for a run? Decide what is really important to you.

Plan Plan Plan.
You need to do more than just plan. You can sit and write in your outlook calendar everything that you want to achieve in the day, but too often you can be left with uncompleted tasks. Work-life balance is about dividing your day into equal parts where you contribute equal amounts of time to different activities. Remember what is going to be important for one person may not be important to another. So determine what’s important to you and then work towards your own work-life balance.