How to Create Harmony between your Personal and Professional Life

Often we hear that we must strive for a 50/50 balance between our personal and professional lives. Yet, I’m here to tell you, a 50/50 balance isn’t possible. The best we can do is create harmony between our various roles.

Why a 50/50 balance cannot be achieved:

Life happens. Just when you feel you have “it all figured out”, something changes. Aging parents, medical situations, etc., at some point, you are going to have pull in one direction or another. No one can equally divide every minute of every day between your partner, children, work, friends, exercise, self-care, or personal interest. If you continue to live your life in pursuit of a 50/50 balance, you are going to burn out…fast.

Tips for Creating a Harmonious Life

Evaluate your Current Situation: You can negatively impact your life if you don’t look at your personal life in relation to your career. For example, you are presented with a promotion at work. You desperately want to take this opportunity. However, you just took on some added responsibility in your personal life that leaves you with very little extra time. Taking the promotion wouldn’t be ideal for this point in your life. Before making this decision, you need to sync your personal and professional situations. Either decline the job, or pass on your personal responsibility to someone else, if possible. You must create the harmony between the two, which is NOT 50/50 to each.

Manage your Time: Use a scheduler or planner to set reminders. I highly recommend the book, “Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life” by Nir Eyal for excellent strategies in preventing distractions and managing your time, both personally and professionally.

Take a Break: Sometimes its a simple 15 minute stretch break in the middle of the day. Other times it is a much needed longer vacation. Either way, breaks are necessary for recharging and refocusing in all areas of your life. Breaks offer you mental space to gain clarity, reprioritize, and harmonize your various life roles and responsibilities.

Partner with a Coach: A career and life coach will coach you around the life cycle. A coach can help integrate your career and life, guide you in identifying negative habits, and provide tools and resources for turning your harmonious life vision into a reality.