How to achieve work-life balance in 5 steps

How to achieve work-life balance in 5 stepsHow to achieve work-life balance in 5 stepsAchievingwork-life balancecan look impossible. And, frankly, it seems like its gettingharder.In the ten years from 1986 to 1996 work-life balance was mentioned in the media 32 times.In 2007 alone it was mentioned 1674 times.ViaThe ONE ThingA LexisNexis survey of the top 100 newspapers and magazines around the world shows a dramatic rise in the number of articles on the topic, from 32 in the decade from 1986 to 1996 to a high of 1674 articles in 2007 alone.The Onion jokingly implies that the only way to achieve effective work/life balance is to not have a job.Thats hysterical - because its not remotely realistic.So what actually works?You need to draw a lineIve posted plenty of research onproductivity,time managementandprocrastination- but thats not the issue here.Not at all.Those are hacks that help you be more efficient but in the modern world you are getting 25 hours of to-dos thrown at you ever y 24 hours.Thinking that if you spend enough time you will get everything done is an illusion. You will never be done.The happiest peoplearenotpeople who dont have a care in the world. Those people are bored.Research shows the happiest people arebusy - but dont feel rushed.Anxiety is reduced bya feeling of control. And what do studies say about work-life balance? Same thing - afeeling of control is key.You have to draw a line.You must decide what is important and what isnt.How do you draw that line? By asking yourself one simple question a few times a day.Whats the most important thing for you to do right now?The main problem people have is they try to do it all and treat everything as important.You cant do it all and everything is not equally important.So how do you determinethe most important thing for you to do right now?1) What are your values?Clay Christensen, Harvard Business School professor and author ofHow Will You Measure Your Life?,knows what he values.Watch from 3455 t o 3850He works Monday to Friday. Saturday is for family and Sunday is for God. Period. No work on the weekends. No exceptions. No matter what.Clay knows whats important to him, drew a line and probably doesnt suffer from many work-life balance worries.Is this effective for everyone at every company? No. Butyou have to start with knowing what matters most to you and drawing a line.2) What gets you disproportionate results?Face it often you start by doing whatever happens to be in front of you. But proximity does not equal priority.In his bookThe ONE Thing, Gary Keller applies the Pareto principle to the workdayfruchtwein of us get 80% of results from 20% of the work we do. So focus on that 20%.What really creates progress vs treading water?What gives disproportionate results? Do that first and most frequently.3) Whats the thing only *you* can do well?If someone else can do the laundry at home, let them do it. If someone else can do the filing at work, let them do it.But if youre the parent, you need to be at the parent-teacher conference and if youre the sales lead you need to be at the sales meeting.ViaThe Effective Executive The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things DoneAll in all, the effective executive tries to be himself he does not pretend to be someone else. He looks at his own performance and at his own results and tries to discern a pattern.What are the things, he asks, that I seem to be able to do with relative ease, while they come rather hard to other people?Management guruPete Druckersays focus on the things that only you can do. Delegate, outsource or neglect the rest.4) Whats most importantright now?You feel good when you check a lot of things off your to-do list. But were they things that aremost important and urgent?Thatswhat matters.ViaThe Decision Book 50 Models for Strategic ThinkingAs theEisenhower Matrixseen here reveals, just because something is urgent doesnt mean its important.And being important doesnt necessarily mean its urge nt.And asClay Christensenpoints out, its all too easy to put off important family time for urgent work deadlines.If youve been neglecting your loved ones recently, work might beurgent but not importantwhile family is bothimportantandurgent.Sum upSo how do you deal with work/life balance? Here are some key ideasEverything is not equally important.Do fewer things and do them well.Decide what your values are - and which ones take precedence.Do the things that get disproportionate results.Focus on the things only you can do.Do the important things which must be donenow.Its not simple and it wont be resolved tomorrow but you can get much, much better at this with time.Whats the most important thing to remember?You can do anything once you stop trying to do everything.Join 320,000 readers.Get a free weekly update via emailhere.Related posts4 Lifehacks From Ancient Philosophers That Will Make You HappierWhat 10 things should you do every day to improve your life?How To Make Your Life Bett er By Sending Five Simple EmailsThis article first appeared at Barking Up the Wrong Tree.