What do you do if your career goals are taking over your personal life?

It's essential to pause and reflect on your current circumstances to ensure a healthy balance between your career and personal life. If you frequently find yourself burning the midnight oil at work and missing out on quality time with your loved ones, it's a clear indicator that something needs to change. Take a proactive approach by examining your weekly activities and categorizing them into two columns: 'career' and 'personal'. If you notice that the 'career' column dominates, overwhelming your 'personal' activities, it's a red flag signaling the need for rebalancing. While dedication to your career is admirable, neglecting your personal life can lead to burnout, strained relationships, and diminished overall well-being.

My two cents here - 1. Assess your professional and personal priorities, and list them in order of importance. 2. Break them further into mini-goals and time-bound them, build-in buffer for adhoc schedules anywhere. 3. Clinically and meticulously follow the discipline of addressing them as scheduled 4. Keep a cheat day in the week. 5. Clear the irritants or the ones cluttering your head first so you can better focus on upcoming ones. 6. Listen to yourself only all this while until you are past through this phase. 7. Lastly, if nothing works, take a break from to focus on what you need to. Ask your seniors for more manpower to support you better or deploy tech. Life is simple if you think it's simple, our thoughts only make it complex.

First list your weekly activities and categorize them into 'career' and 'personal'. If you find the career column overwhelmingly long, it's a signal that you need to redistribute some time and energy. Then identify the most critical tasks that will drive your career forward and allocate appropriate time to them. Equally important is recognizing which personal activities rejuvenate you and making them non-negotiable in your schedule. By focusing on what truly matters, you can achieve more in less time. Lastly never underestimate the power of taking time to recharge. Whether it's a hobby, exercise, or simply doing nothing, find what helps you relax and make it a regular part of your life.

If your career is becoming too demanding and eating a lot upon your personal life then you are sitting on a ticking bomb. At the end of the day, the aim of our career is to contribute towards a better personal life but if it's not serving the purpose then we need to assess our purpose, goals and environment.

Take a step back and reflect on your priorities in both your career and personal life. Are your career goals overshadowing important aspects of your personal life, such as relationships, health, and hobbies?

Establish clear boundaries between your career and personal life. Define specific times for work and leisure activities, and stick to them as much as possible. This might involve turning off work notifications after hours or setting aside dedicated time for family and self-care.

Definitely set boundaries while at the same realizing the work-life balance is "on average" not minute to minute or even day to day. There will be times in your career when you work more than you play & vice versa. When making a big push to a launch, career change, or other major project your personal life may be neglected for a little bit & that's ok! You can't be perfectly balanced in every moment. You can "on average" be balanced, week to week or month to month. When on vacation you don't want balance, you want vacation only. When pushing toward a goal you may need to work more because it is a push toward the end goal. That level of effort will subside as you reach your goals and more balance will be available, on average :-)

It’s important to establish the type of boundaries you have with the combination that is routinely used for example. We all can have very rigid boundaries where there is no compromise and you have dug the line in the sand. We can also have very porous boundaries where we essentially let others walk all over us and not respect our time Contributions or we can have healthy boundaries to respect to set proper boundaries about our time and be able to consistently commit to a healthy worklife balance. It’s also important to know thy self and to not allow anyone specifically supervisors coworkers or others to press us into submission for guilt us into staying later or working on the weekend

It's normal to get excited about career goals, especially when you start to make progress, get recognition, or have something you are working towards. Often excitement opens the door to lots of action and that can lead to "too much" and cause conflicts at home and in one's personal life. Stepping back and breaking down all the tasks that you're involved in is a good first step. What's everything you are working on? Prioritize and evaluate the timeline for each of these items. Is there a way to schedule the flow of your work to move somethings out so you are not doing everything at once? What tasks do not impact your bottom line today? This may take compromise- get really clear why are doing it. "I want to have more time at home", etc.

Delegate tasks at work when possible and prioritize your workload to focus on tasks that align with your long-term career goals. Learning to say no to non-essential commitments can also free up time for what truly matters to you outside of work.

If you stop priortizing tasks and filtering them accordingly, you lose control of the business you’re dealing with and basicaly it starts to control you.

Organizing your tasks is akin, to carving a way through a forest of responsibilities. Identify the priorities that will advance your journey and allocate dedicated time for them.. Remember to indulge in activities that uplift your spirits – they are crucial! By sharpening your focus you'll efficiently tackle tasks while also caring for your well being.

Time management is the key to success. Setting priorities may create work life balance. Personal life matters more than anything else. If I'm not happy inside how can i be the achiever of goals in career? So, "Try to get whatever you like otherwise you will like whatever you get" is the basic idea behind to achieve my career goals where i keep personal life on top priority.

Mastering the art of delegation is akin, to discovering a superpower for handling your tasks. You don't have to bear the burden ! Collaborating with others be it in the workplace or, at home grants you time to concentrate on your strengths. It's a arrangement – you accomplish more while allowing your team or loved ones to showcase their talents as well.

Delegation can become a critical part of our professional toolbox if we are willing to do the inner work around our own ego and why we feel the need to control everyone and everything and be the center of attention, take all the credit and most egregiously deflect responsibility when our delegation to another is not successful. If we are also willing to identify our own lack of maturity in our behavior, attitude, values, morality, accountability. When any member of a team succeeds through a leaders delegation everyone wins and it builds unity among team members

Life is unpredictable. Being too strict, with schedules can lead to increased stress. Relax by being open to change. When unexpected things happen go with the flow. It could involve adjusting work priorities to handle matters or the other way around. Embracing flexibility allows you to find moments of calm in the midst of lifes unpredictability.

Sometimes, arguing with reality can lead to stress and anxiety. Being prepared to adapt quickly to changing circumstances and making decisions on the fly is key to finding balance. Treat setbacks as opportunities to learn and improve systems.

Make self-care a priority by incorporating activities that rejuvenate and recharge you into your routine. Whether it's exercise, meditation, spending time with loved ones, or pursuing hobbies, investing in your well-being is essential for maintaining balance.

Many people claim that they can't find the time for recharging activities due to the amount of time they spend working. It is important to cultivate a mindset shift: Breaks from work are really essential for ones overall health and well-being. Moreover finding the balance helps people to be oven more productive and focused in less amount of time.

Remember to take some time for yourself. Whether its going to the gym immersing yourself in a hobby or simply relaxing discover what helps you unwind and incorporate it into your routine. These moments of relaxation aren't just enjoyable; they are essential, for your well being. They provide you with the energy and perspective needed to tackle whatever challenges come your way both professionally and personally.

Be honest. It's simple. When we are honest about what we are doing and why, we get to see how we are showing up in our lives. It's it wrong or bad to have career goals be a priority in your life? Nope. However, if you are causing harm in any way shape or form to yourself or others, this is where you are not taking responsibility for yourself.

Communicate with Your Employer. If your career demands are overwhelming, consider having a candid conversation with your employer or manager about your workload and potential solutions. They may be willing to offer support, adjust deadlines, or redistribute tasks to alleviate some of the pressure.

The first question you need to ask yourself is: What is the meaning of life for me? What kind of life do I want to create? What will I need to sacrifice to create that life? What will I gain by creating that life? Once you have answers to these questions, then step back & look at the big picture. Decide on what healthy boundaries will serve you & your loved ones with the decisions you make. And as a wrap: Ask yourself the question, should I choose this route, would I ever regret my decision? If so, what choice should I be making that I know I will not regret no matter what. Good Luck!

Practice Self-Compassion: Treat yourself kindly during periods of change and transition. Recognize your feelings and give yourself the space to process and adapt. The less you beat yourself up, the more agile you will become.