The word work life balance, assumes that there can be an equilibrium between the two parts. We can have balance between these two very distinct, non-crossover parts of our life?

Life is not that simple and trying to balance it, is going to lead to a lot of extra stress. Work life effectiveness is two things in my mind.

  1. Being effective with the time you have. When in a workplace, when playing with your children, when out socialising. Whatever, be committed and present. Life will be much richer, the more you are focussed and tuned in
  2. Work and life are not easy to separate, we have friends at work and may be friends outside of work. We sometimes have to work that bit extra. We may also get ideas or thoughts that happened in our personal life that could be useful in our work life. understand priorities will help rather than two buckets or work and life

By following some practices below, it is my hope that you can help know yourself more and prioritise what is most important to you.

The caveat here is I am not the perfect example and very much a work in progress. So I may of done some of the below while others are in progress. This is a large list that I plan to dig into in future posts.

Work Effectiveness

Meditation and Mindfulness

  • Centre yourself several times a day whenever you feel distracted or unsettled
  • If you feel too much pressure and anxiety take a ten minute break to meditate and clear your mind – the App Headspace is a great starting place as well as number of out there

Organisation

  • Disorganisation is solved by throwing out non-essentials and tending to the import things first and foremost. Identify those big items you need to attend
  • Make your surroundings orderly and uncluttered
  • Failing to plan is planning to fail. That’s the first advice I learned from studying the behaviour and daily schedule of various successful people

Understand Priorities

  • One of the most important lessons that I’ve learned from the way successful people work is that ‘organisation alone is not going to make you succeed, unless you prioritise the things you have organised’.
  • Know how much time you need to devote on a certain task, and which are the tasks that need to be completed first. Understand priority of these tasks and then begin the work starting with those more important first. Note: E-mail is not the most important

80/20 Rule

  • Be Smart rather than hard. always strive to come up with a smart way to achieve a goal. Identify your 80/20
  • Extra useful when starting on something, if like me you can fall into the perfectionist trap. Just make a start, you can course correct and tweak as you go along

Deadlines and Procrastination

  • A deadline gives you that mental push to get going. Do set a deadline for every single task that comes to your plate
  • Clarity of action is paramount. Unless you are 100% sure about what you are supposed to do, you  shouldn’t get started. Put a large amount of time planning and understanding things up front to make the rest easier

Discipline

  • Be careful of those around you, what you take in and listen too
  • Keep away from negative influences
  • Follow a regular daily routine
  • The persistence to keep doing is what all effective people have in common. They keep on doing what they need to, not just for one or two days, but for as long as they set their mind to. “When you are going through hell, just keep doing.”

Distraction

  • Task switching, a big drain! Avoid it as much as possible. By switching between two tasks, you will have by the end of the day is two unfinished tasks, instead of one task. We can’t multi-task, so don’t try it
  • Music to help focus the mind. I tend to listen to soundtracks and find the music acts as a good background noise but not enough to distract

Anxiety and fear

  • Worry doesn’t help, focus on what you can do. We can all get anxious and worry, we let things get on top of us, worry about it. Get to a stage where you can problem solve, trip into problem solving
  • Don’t remain in situations that turn disordered and stressful and don’t be tied down by other people’s opinions and attitudes

Personal Effectiveness

Protect your Time

  • Get home on time where you can
  • Switch off when you get home or flip into do not disturb
  • Use pull rather than push on e-mail
  • Weekends, turn off that phone. Not just from work but other social networks too

Nutrition

  • Snack on nuts, blueberries, yogurt and oranges to lower stress and avoid craving sugary snacks that you’ll only need to work off even more
  • Drink lots (Water that is!)

Physical Exercise

  • Not only will staring at your computer screen hours on end tire your eyes, but it makes you unfocused and less productive. Take a break from your screen every hour and get some fresh air
  • Get a good amount of sleep every night
  • In one way or the other physical health impacts mental health. When you are not physically fit you mind is never going to be productive

Confidante

  • Find a friend or confidante who shares your vision of clarity and fulfilment, also someone to vent and allow you to externalise what is in your head. Generally this will help you solve the issue on your own.
  • Get Perspective on what you are doing, maybe the scope of your responsibilities does not correspond to a sustainable workload. Assess with your manager by creating yourself a comprehensive list of those things to either push back, delegate or get rid of all together

Have Fun!

  • Reward yourself! When you have done a number of tasks or that big task, reward yourself for doing it. Have that focus point as well as reward afterwards
  • Laughing is good for your own mental and physical wellbeing. Reducing cortisol levels and releasing endorphins into the body. Watching a funny video on YouTube etc.