24/7 • 365 Days Balance Tips & Tactics
In today’s fast-paced world, women in business often find themselves juggling multiple roles and responsibilities. The sheer number of tasks to do each day, week, month and year may become overwhelming. In order to achieve work life balance, it’s important to acknowledge your mental load — that invisible cognitive and emotional labor of managing work, home, and personal life. It is the endless loop of anticipating, identifying, deciding and monitoring.
Darria Long, an ER doctor in her Ted Talk about triaging your "crazy busy" life brings her ER training to the topic of life balance. In her talk she guides us through the steps of urgency assessment, impact evaluation, and utilizing our support network. Her insights show us how anticipating, identifying, deciding, and monitoring allow us to take care of the most urgent situations without added stress while putting on hold things that can wait all the time continuing to monitor progress.
Balance includes setting boundaries, prioritizing yourself, leading, delegating tasks and setting expectations. Our state of balance fluctuates as our roles change throughout our lives. It is an ever evolving process of self reflection, awareness, acceptance, and action.
Setting boundaries may or may not come easy to you. Nedra Glover Tawab, author of Set Boundaries, Find Peace: a guide to reclaiming yourself, reminds us that we are not betraying others when we set boundaries rather we are able to live and love more deeply when we put them in place.
Playing Big by Tara Mohr, helped me find the language to show up in my life and face my fears with poise and strength. This book is an excellent workshop or book club selection.
Brené Brown encourages us to be ourselves, to be vulnerable and to lead. In her new book, Dare to Lead, she focuses on brave work, tough conversations, and whole hearts.
Atomic Habits by James Clear is here to help us with communication and consistency. Create systems, make incremental changes, and develop the habits that work for you.
Balance requires us to share our workload. Whether it's delegating tasks within our family, at work or in our business, outsourcing work to other people or professionals is essential. Identifying tasks that drain your energy and time is a good place to start. Then decide if any of those tasks could be moved off your plate.
If you are short on time, instead of reading try listening to an audio book or an author’s podcast. Following an author on social media may be enough for you to connect with new ideas. Balance is progress not perfection.