Top 10 Strategies for Achieving Work-Life Balance

At FUSION Performance Marketing, having a good work-life balance is one of our company’s core values.   That balance is a necessity in order to keep employees engaged and to remain efficient, productive and less stressed.  Here are several ways to achieve a better work-life balance:

1. Establish your priorities – identify what’s important to you, whether its getting ahead in the office, family time or a regular workout routine.  Figure out what those priorities are and create your schedule accordingly.
2. Separate home and work – clients and colleagues do NOT need to reach you 24/7.  Create an effective “bridge time” between work and home – find something to relieve your stress in between the two – so that when you are home, you are at home.
3. Manage / track your work time – there is always something more to do at work.  Long days at the office need to be the exception and not the rule.  If they are the rule, track your work hours and reorganize and re-prioritize.
4. Become more efficient – creating templates for regular work projects so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel each time will save your time.  This strategy can work for home too.  Group tasks, delegate and share the workload.
5. Connect to your family each day while traveling – being there when you are not physically there minimizes guilt.
6. Bolster your support system – identify your go-to people at work and home.  You are not alone, let these people share in your responsibilities when you need it.
7. Learn to say no – that’s right, you do not have to agree to every volunteer opportunity or extraneous activity out there.  If you have a busy week at work, take the weekend to recharge and relax – don’t make plans because you feel obligated.
8. Nurture yourself – make time for things that make you feel good and alleviate stress.  Yoga, a massage or a hot bath; take the time to do something for yourself.
9. Disconnect from technology part of every day – turn off the laptop at night and stop checking emails after a certain time.  Don’t work from your phone during family time or while you’re out with friends.
10. Plan personal / family time – personal time needs to be just as important as business time.  You don’t skip meetings at work, so don’t skip a date with your spouse, lunch with a friend, a day out with the kids or a session at the gym!  Put them in your calendar.

Learn more about FUSION and other ways to motivate your employees and drive employee engagement.

Reference:  Loomis, Christine.  “Balancing Act.”  Smart Meetings, February 2011.  www.smartmeetings.com.