Figure Out the “Life” Part in “Work-Life” Balance | by Adriana Dumphrey
Identifying the people and things that matter to you is the first step in creating a healthy work-life balance.
You spend less time doing things that don’t matter and prioritize the things that do, but when you do know what matters to you, it can be hard to make time for it outside of your busy work schedule.
So here are some practical ways in identifying and creating a healthy work-life balance inspired by the book “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck” by Mark Manson.
1) Identify What Matters to You.
Start out by writing a list of the top things in your life that matters to you.
I know at first what comes to mind can be many things, but try your best to narrow this down as much as you can. When doing this, ask yourself if having this in your life will improve it for the better.
Below is a list of the top 10 things that matter to me:
- Physical Health
- Mental Health
- Spiritual Health
- Finances
- Family
- Friends
- Business
- Creativity
- Travel
- Career
This isn’t to say that I don’t indulge in doing things outside of what I listed. It’s more so a reference for what I should be spending the majority of my time caring about and implementing into my life.
Rome wasn't built in a day.
Taking the time to list and identify what matters to me has helped me waste less time on things that don’t. This helps me to create more fulfillment within myself by being intentional with what I spend my time doing. In the age of social media, it is easy to get caught up with what everyone else is doing, instead of how you are doing. This is a great practice for you to check in on yourself and realign with what matters to you in order to maintain focus, rather it's on your personal goals, well-being, etc.
2) A Healthy Work-Life Balance Is About Smart Decision-Making.
Say you wanted to commit more time towards meditation as a holistic approach to improve your mental health & well-being.
However, because you're so overwhelmed by work, it’s hard to think about anything else but the next task you have to complete before your deadline.
If you’re like me, without even realizing it you might be an “all or nothing type of person”. If I can’t meditate for an hour, I just simply won’t do it that day because I don’t have time to do it. My wellness coach at my job made me realize that I do have time, I just don’t have time for an hour!
What I learned from that conversation is that life consists of multiple factors that we don’t have control over, but what we can do is focus on the things that we can control.
I can’t control when the deadline is due(sometimes), but I can control how much time I allow myself to get the task done.
I can’t control having meetings back-to-back, but I can control how much time / when I decide to meditate. For example, I can meditate for 10 minutes when there is a small gap between meetings, instead of my usual hour before work.
So next time you say you don’t have time, think about how you can create it.
3) The Mid-Life Crisis Solution Formula: Desire + Metric = Core Value
Often as human beings, we naturally compare ourselves to others and even take it a step further for those who participate in “Keeping Up with the Joneses”.
It’s easy to base your life on people when you haven’t defined your own core values. Knowing what your core values are is what it means to live life by your own rules.
Sometimes people feel like they don’t have a work-life balance because of how they see others balance their life.
Instead of comparing yourself to others, define your core values as well as what you would need to measure them without external influences like your friends.
Let’s say you decide to go on vacation and the progress of your goal is measured by how much you saved for it. The more you save up, the longer you can afford your vacation stay. This will lead to you feeling happier knowing that each time you save, you are a step closer to your dream vacation.
Below is an example inspired by Mark Manson Book mentioned earlier:
Wanting to go on Vacation + comparing your vacation to your friends = Failure (Negative core value belief)
Wanting to go on Vacation + saving $$$ for it = Happiness (Positive core value belief)
Here you can see why it is essential that you are measuring your core value belief appropriately with no external influences that are out of your control. This now shifts from you living life based on other people, to living life for yourself based on positive core value beliefs.
Most times we are under the illusion that we don’t have enough time to enjoy life when working a full-time career when really, a “good” quality of life has been defined by what we see others do.
Personally, playing Sims 4 at 2 am in the morning, and waking up to my fiancé every day is my idea of a great life, in that order…just joking…maybe.
Wrapping up
You may have noticed that when addressing having a work-life balance, I largely addressed the life part. We look for ways to create a work-life balance not because we want to keep doing more work, but because we want to keep making time for life and the people we love.
Life is pretty simple; we just overcomplicate it with things that don’t matter.
Hence, why you must know what matters to you, create time for it, and prioritize your own positive core values in everything that you do (with the right metrics to show for it).
Right now, you have everything that you need to improve your work-life balance.
So let’s get to work!
Adriana Dumphrey is a digital marketer apprentice at Multiverse based in Philadelphia. She’s writing for the Apprentice Lens as part of the Blogging Team. Here’s more about her:
“Adriana Dumphrey is a campaign manager for American Express and a freelance photographer based in Philadelphia. She has a deep passion for empowering and uplifting others in their personal development journey with a focus on guidance and support. Adriana shares practical tips and strategies for self-improvement, while also providing a supportive and encouraging voice to help readers navigate challenges and obstacles along the way.”