How to Successfully Juggle a Career and Personal Life

Managing a healthy balance between a career and a personal life is the bane of many people. Yet it is possible. Here are a few tips that can help you create such a balance.

1. Prioritize

One of the first steps that you need to take is a reflective one. Examine your career and your personal life. Which is receiving the most of your time and energy? The second big question that you have to answer is if it’s worth it. To some, making more money is essential to their plans for the future.

For others, money may not be important. Having enough to get by may be all that they need. If this is you, then you may need to refocus where your time and energy is going. Why waste more time on a career when you don’t feel passionate about it?

2. Set a Schedule and Stick with It

For some, the easiest way to manage a balance is to make a schedule for it. The important part of a schedule is sticking with it. Set a time that you spend at work. Don’t let yourself work overtime, even if your boss asks if you can. You’re making your personal life a priority.

Be out of your office at the time it’s scheduled. Then arrive at home and spend the time you’ve scheduled with your family. While this may seem formulaic, it’s a great way to get started in making your personal life more of a priority than your career.

You might want to add in time that you spend unwinding with your kids. That way, when it’s time to stop playing with your kids, they’ll be ready for bed and on their way to sleep.

As any parent knows, it can be difficult to set a scheduled time to spend with their children. They often demand more, and as a parent, you should give it to them. When they grow older, they’ll want less time with you as they become independent. Relish the time with them while it lasts.

3. Set Goals

For those who are more goal-oriented, then you could also set goals for yourself. Perhaps there’s a set number of hours that you want to spend with your children or at work. Keep track of the amount of time that you spend doing that, and then see if it reaches your weekly goal. If not, then you may need to alter what you do for a few days in order to reach those goals.

4. Take More Time Off

Do you tend to hoard your days off in case you fall ill? Don’t. Instead, use them up for family trips. If you happen to fall ill and you run out of days, then just take the hit with your paycheck. Spending time with your family and taking the time to nourish your mental health is vital to your overall happiness.

If your job has a problem with you needing a few days off here and there outside of your paid time off due to an illness, then are they really worth working for?

5. Make the Most of Your Time

You only have so much time in a day. Make the most of it. The best way to do that is to try and find ways of combining tasks or finding substitutes. For example, you may be able to free up some time in helping your children with their homework by hiring a tutor for them instead.

Instead of cooking dinner every night, perhaps you can order dinner out and pick it up on the way to work. Everyone receives a good meal, and you have a free hour or two to devote to another task.

You can also hire other services like cleaning services to take care of daily chores. Or, for those on a budget, consider hiring a student who can complete household chores at a discounted rate.

6. Combine the Two

A lot of people are fighting to keep the two spheres separate when perhaps they might combine them instead. For example, if your child is struggling with their homework, then perhaps you can help them solve it by showing them what you do for work. Introducing them to your work can show them new perspectives and ways to solve problems.

You may even find that they have a few creative solutions for your own problems as well!

Conclusion

Achieving a healthy balance between work and personal life isn’t always realistic. The best that you can do is try to manage both at the same time, so you’re feeling satisfied in each sphere. Sometimes it may even be worth it to merge the two together. These tips can help you forge a healthy balance between your career and personal life without sacrificing too much of either.