In today’s world, it is more important than ever to have a balanced work-life. It’s not just the number of hours you spend at your job that matters, though. The way in which you live your life outside of work also plays a huge role in how well you do at your job and how happy you are with yourself and others around you. This blog post will share three things everyone should do in order to create a healthy balance between their work and personal lives: identify what they find fulfilling, set boundaries, and be honest about what they want out of life.
1) Identify what fulfills them: What fills up their time when they aren't working? What makes them feel good when they're spending time doing it? What would they do if their lives were perfect?
One way to begin identifying what fills them up when they aren't working is by taking the VIA character strengths survey . This test measures 24 different character strengths and ranks the top 5. The results of this test can be a great source of guidance for a person’s life, as they can use their top ranked strengths to find fulfilling activities.
Another great source of information is the book “The How of Happiness” by Sonja Lyubomirsky . This book discusses how people become happier, and has a list ranking the 10 things that have been found to have the largest effect on happiness. Things like getting married and having friends were both found to be more important than income, and this book explains why.
2) Set Boundaries: You wouldn’t let a coworker come into your house uninvited on Saturday night and mooch off of you for free food and entertainment, so why would you let them treat you this way at your job? Set boundaries for yourself by creating a “work-life boundary”. This is an imaginary line that separates work life from personal life, and you are in control of who goes across it. There are 3 components to setting effective work-life boundaries:
1) Recognize the difference between what people owe you at work and what they don’t owe you.
2) Recognize that different people can demand different things from you.
3) Realize that ALL relationships have boundaries, whether they are set or not.
3) Be Honest About What You Want Out of Life: People love to say “follow your dreams”, but the harsh truth of the matter is that it is going to be incredibly hard for you to “follow your dreams” if you don't actually know what they are. So, identify a dream or goal and be honest about whether or not achieving this dream will make you happy. If it will, then go for it! If not, then have some courage and let it go in order to make room for something that will make you happier.
And that's it! It all sounds so simple, but it takes work and honesty with yourself and the people around you. But, believe me, it is so worth it!
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