Balancing Work and Family

7 Tips in Juggling Professional and Personal Responsibilities

Whether you are a full-time working mom, a part-time single dad, or anything in between, it’s likely that you’ve encountered difficulties balancing work and family.  Being pulled in so many important, yet different directions can be stressful, and unless handled properly, can limit your ability to work effectively in either realm.  Here are 7 tips that will help you divide and conquer:

1. Review your values.

Everyone needs to reassess their values now and again.  As life changes and different situations unfold, values may shift, evolve or change altogether.  It’s important that you determine what your values are because they should drive your actions.  Once you articulate your values you can ask yourself whether or not your priorities, goals, and schedule reflect these values.

2. Set your priorities.

This is much easier to do once you have reviewed your values.  You should prioritize your life based on those values that matter most to you.  If you value family, then you should make family time a priority.  If you value debt-free living, then you should focus on earning enough money to pay off your debt.  And because most individuals have multiple values, you’ll probably have to determine which of these values get top billing.

3. Schedule well.

Now that you’ve prioritized those things of most importance in your life, you can fill your schedule accordingly.  When will you work?  When will you spend time with your family?  And as you schedule, use the same calendar for both family and work activities.  Otherwise, you may miss something important because you were looking at the wrong calendar.

4. Have a one-track mind.

Once you begin a family or work-oriented project, focus on the task at hand.  If you are spending time at work but preoccupied with thoughts of your children at home, you will not be as productive, and as a result, you will probably have to steal time away from your family to fulfill all your work responsibilities.

5. Work together.

Finding that perfect work and family balance is not your responsibility alone.  Depending on the age of your children, you can enlist them in the effort by requiring them to perform certain chores that will enable you to better manage your time.  And if you have a spouse, divide up the workload so you’re not so overwhelmed.  Once you divvy out responsibilities, learn to let others perform their assignments.  You’re doing yourself no favors by micromanaging your home life.

6. Embrace chaos.

The truth is, regardless of how organized and well-scheduled you may be, balancing work and family will result in some chaos.  While you may do the best you can to stay on top of things, the house will still get messy, the car will still need maintenance, and your children will still get sick.  In order to handle these little obstacles you need to to roll with the punches and come to expect the unexpected.

7.    Let go.

You can only do so much.  At some point you need to relax and let some things go.  While this may feel uncomfortable, sometimes it’s the only way to maintain your sanity.

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