“I believe that being successful means having a balance of success stories across the many areas of your life. You can’t truly be considered successful in your business life if your home life is in shambles”. – Zig Ziglar

The best work-life balance is different for each of us and will vary over time because we all have different priorities and different lives. The right balance for you when you are single will be different when you marry, or if you have children.

The term work-life balance is not used that often anymore. The new language around it is “work-life integration” because the focus is on how to integrate the two aspects of your life as a working woman.

For me “balance” means finding a way to prioritise the various elements of your life by giving time and focus to all the things that really matter in your live.

Balance is about sustaining a healthy, happy way of life, so you can feel you are being your best, achieving what you want to achieve, and not having to compromise, settle, or diminish who you are to build the life you want.

For that to occur, you have to change the way you’re looking at your life and your career, and the daily decisions and commitments you make.  You need to understand clearly what you want to create in life, and what you can tolerate giving up for that.

People who manage work-life balance have developed a strong sense of who they are, their values, and what is important to them.

Instead of just letting life happen, (read: striving for perfection, rarely asking for help, having unreasonable expectations for how much you can accomplish in a day, feeling guilty about never quite being who everyone else wants/needs you to be, allowing others to dictate how your time will be spent, etc.) they make deliberate choices about what they want from life and how they want to spend their time.

They know what makes them happy and realistically strive to craft a life that is meaningful, fulfilling and rewarding.

People who maintain a healthy balance turn off distractions. They enjoy quality uninterrupted time doing matters they enjoy. They know how to be in the moment with people and things they love.

Strive to be fully present wherever you are and compartmentalise the various aspects of your life.

The following visualization exercise might help you when you feel torn between two places: Picture yourself putting your concerns or worries in a box and then placing that box on a high shelf in your closet. Tell yourself that you can retrieve the box at a later time and deal with the issues then, but for now you should be fully present in the moment.

People who have achieved good balance have a strong support network they can depend upon to help them get through hardships or setbacks and who wholeheartedly support their goals and priorities.

They tend to have a variety of interests and are open to new learning and possibilities. They are curious, open, and want to experience life to the fullest. Often they have discovered meditation, music, physical activity, or some other interest that allows them to get away from the pressures of everyday life to relax, rejuvenate, and regenerate them selves.

One golden tip I once received was doing quarterly reviews of your personal life with your partner just like you would with an employee. I tell you, this definitely helps to be fully present, alive and engaged in all that you do! It also helps you to make deliberate choices about what you want, adjust your priorities and letting go of the people and things that drag you down.

What are your best tips for work-life balance? Share them in the comments section!

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