Work/Life Balance
I've compiled a list of some of my tips for balancing work and life based on my experience.
At Work
1. Keep Your Schedule Open -- Since I'm a business owner, I can create my own schedule. I need to remind myself that I don't need to be busy every single day to be successful.
2. Delegate Duties -- I have many people willing to help me out and I'm learning to take them up on their offers. As hard as it might be to trust someone else with your work, it may end up working out for the better and will definitely relieve stress.
3. Don't Waste Time -- I spend a LOT of time reading through and responding to emails, editing images and clicking around the web when I should be tending to more important business. Sure, the emails are important but when I have a backlog of work, I should be prioritizing the work and focusing on getting it done before taking on more work.
4. Schedule Down Time -- I try to have at least one day during the week where I don't put anything on my plate. I usually leave my weekends free, as well.
5. Get One Job Done Before Moving on to Another -- This is a huge tip to remember even if you don't own your own business. By completely finishing one task before moving on to another, you're less likely to mess things up and more likely to focus better on the task at hand.
6. Preschedule Your Work -- I have the option of prescheduling my goals. I can have them pop up at any point in the future and I like to take advantage of this feature. If I have extra downtime that I didn't plan for, I get some goals prescheduled which frees up more time during the week.
Regarding delegation of duties, I have found that the better training that I provide to a person, the easier it is to delegate duties and be confident that the task will be accomplished sufficiently.
I remember when I first started doing that, I thought to myself: "this is taking me twice as long as if I just did the job myself," but after awhile, it pays off. The trainee becomes very good at the task, freeing you to concentrate more on the things that only you can do.
Michael,
What a great list. These are key things that can help everyone. One thing I struggle with is your #2. I find it difficult to delegate, but am getting better at this as I'm more aware of my weakness. This is what we all need to do. Thank you!
