careerhunters

By Meg Brooks

Its always worth having a look at our daily routines if we are to understand how our work/life balance can affect our emotional well being.
Life in 2010 has become pretty busy and there is no end to the demands on our time, especially to those that have to juggle a career and children. These days most families have both partners working as living costs are so expensive.

Some days the pressure of handling these varied responsibilities can just seem too much – it’s hard to know how to prioritize.

One of the most valuable life lessons that I have been given was being shown how to separate the Urgent from the Important.

That seems like an easy thing to say, but there lies within a valuable truth.
Urgent issues are not often that Important in the larger scheme of things. A good rule of thumb is to consider whether the subject at hand will really matter in a week or two. If it will, then it may be Important and prioritized accordingly.

Quite often, Urgent issues can become forced onto us from other people. They can try and push their crises onto you and attempt to make you take responsibility for them.

Learning how to gently but firmly say No to these matters can free up a surprising amount of time that you can then devote to the Important. As with many life skills, its worth practicing such matters in a safe environment as you build your confidence in this area.

This is such a powerful life lesson that its worth spending a little time on. I used to have a colleague in an office that I worked in that looked after Purchasing. Their responsibility was to make sure that any product sold by the company was replaced in a timely manner. She was one of the loveliest people you could meet, and always would spare her time to go the extra mile.

However, its sadly the case that not all of us are like that, and I began to notice that after a few months she was looking increasingly stressed. I was in her office one afternoon and one of the firms accountants passed by and asked if she would help with one of his activities. It had nothing to do with her main job, but as she couldn’t resist helping people she agreed.

This pattern kept repeating itself with other people to the detriment of her work. We talked about it over coffee one morning and it was clear she was quite worried about losing her job. I suggested that she politely decline these requests and within a month she was back to her old self, and smiling happily once more!

Its hard to strike a good work/life balance, but the ability to say No to people who would take advantage of your good nature is such a powerful tool. It also allows you to focus on what is Important in your life, and free up more time to spend with your loved ones doing what you really want to be doing.

View this as an opportunity to get more of what you want out of life – try these steps at your own pace and you may be surprised at the positive results that they deliver.