What are the most effective ways to balance work and life during a busy week?

I mostly follow SMART framework and set goals for my day: S: Specific, M: Measurable A: Attainable R: Relevant T: Time Bound. Professional commitments are good but at the end of the day we should have reached a certain goal. Much of the time gets wasted in thinking about doing something but not actually starting it. If the goals are well defined, thinking time is saved , working time increases. Point to be noted: Daily goals are incremental in nature contributing towards a larger goal to be completed at the end of the week or month. Attainment of the daily goal in the required amount of hours each day helps me cease the professional and academic tasks for the day and focus completely on my personal life with the time I have at hand.

Plan your day beforehand and be mindful about lags if any. And most importantly complete the smaller tasks and keeping moving ahead keeping the timelines. If stuck move to next task and comeback to earlier task with fresh mind and get it done.

Start with prioritizing your tasks, define a pre-set timeline, delegate what can be delegated. Schedule continuous breaks, define your time management strategy. Don't forget to keep your daily habits and preferences: sports, jogging, seeing friends… Communicate with your coworkers and line managers all your concerns and keep on providing feedback.

The one thing that works best for me is walking. I try to find a minimum of 30 minutes a day to walk. A lot of the stresses that come with both work and life feel heavier when your feel latched to a seat.

Realise that the inbox is never empty, so regulate your hours to set a firm start and finish time. Schedule your breaks as you would a meeting - move away from the screen, head outside for some fresh air, and remember to celebrate your achievements, no matter how small.

In my experience life is short and work never ends. I have to say that after working for 20 years your prospective for things will change. I agree that boundaries should be set, for example not taking your work to home is key, exercising for 3-4 times weekly is stress killer and spending time with loved ones will cure our tired souls.

If your workday finishes at 5pm, the time after 5pm is not catch up time. An important lesson I learned early in my career is that people are more impressed by those who get everything accomplished in their working hours, than by those who work late.

Some good advice I received early in my career was a simple statement from my boss. “The company is not gonna set boundaries for you so, you’re going to have to do that” I didn’t know what the “boundaries” meant at the time but now I know. There’s personal boundaries and professional boundaries and a lot of people blend them alongside one another at work and again at home. As I’ve developed in my career, I learned how to practice this more and more with each promotion and job change. Some work cultures want you to blend all your personal and professional a time together and some want you to check your personal life at door. I believe you need to be in the middle of those and this is where setting boundary comes in.

As someone who's navigating the challenges of entering the workforce, I'd advise my fellow interns to remember that setting boundaries won't make you seem less dedicated. Overworking yourself consistently may actually hamper your long-term performance as an intern. If you're putting in extra hours, let it be your own choice, not a result of external pressures from the company.

Setting boundaries, for me, has always been easier said than done, especially before I operated off of my calendar. Now, I use my calendar to clearly denote when I'm doing certain tasks, and I can make the trade off about working later if needed. The other benefit of having my calendar be a true state of my day rather than an unrealistic version of how I wish my day would go, is that I go back and review the week and see how many times I chose to work in the evening over being present with my kids. This helps put things into perspective and forces me to get better each week about saying 'no' to things and being present with my given task (or with the kids).

This tip is pretty essential. The stressed, even if it’s positive stress, working week filled with deadlines often means this goes out the window. As if suddenly your wellness, rest, self connection time is frivolous. It’s actually key. If you don’t feel good. You’ll get ratty & make mistakes. You’ll turn motivational stress into the stress we all want to avoid. Snack-working is a winning style. This is when you set your timer for a period of time & knuckle down. Do the work. Then take a break. Research on bursts in productivity vary & I’ve found for me and my clients (& kids doing exam revision) it’s around 45-75 minutes. Then break. Stretch. Leave the office. The brain needs variety to stay productive.

Keep cool and calm and prioritize the work schedule. Do one thing at a time. Do not leave the things/ works for other days. Be focused Have faith in self. Keep happy

During my craziest weeks, I’ve found that scheduling short daily breaks is a game-changer. Whether it’s a coffee break or a quick chat with a friend, it’s all about that small reset. And when I pencil in those longer breaks, I make sure to truly unplug. Trust me, it works wonders for productivity and mental space!

By intentionally scheduling time for activities that bring joy and relaxation, individuals can recharge their energy, reduce stress, and improve their overall well-being. Setting aside dedicated time each day for activities that one enjoys is essential. Whether it's reading, exercising, meditating, or spending quality time with loved ones, these activities provide a much-needed break from work-related responsibilities. By incorporating these activities into a daily routine, individuals can create a sense of balance and fulfillment.

Planning in breaks is a great way to boost positivity for me. They are something to look forward too, but also are a welcome break, that although I may when on annual leave glance at my work phone and flush out emails, it isn't with pressure or expectations. I do so at my pleasure and wellbeing.

Tracking progress and adjusting strategies is a valuable approach to achieving work-life balance. By using tools like journals, calendars, or apps to record daily activities, emotions, and accomplishments, individuals can gain insights into their performance and make necessary changes. This self-reflection allows for a deeper understanding of personal strengths and weaknesses, enabling individuals to optimize their time and energy. Seeking feedback from colleagues, managers, or family members further enhances this process, as it provides an external perspective and valuable insights for improvement.

Time for Reflection: ? Set aside time for self-reflection. Regularly assess your work-life balance to ensure you are meeting your personal and professional goals.

Many people at work are told to do overtime for more productivity. And this is a big destruction to work-life balance. Richard Branson, one of the successful businessmen, believes that people can work equally or more efficiently even by working for fewer hours. Soon you will be more obsessed with productivity by working “normal” working hours and therefore achieve a proper work-life balance

Let's say you've been feeling overwhelmed and struggling to find a balance between your professional and personal life. To address this issue, you start tracking your progress using a productivity app. Over a week of recording your activities, you notice that you're spending a significant amount of time on low-priority tasks that could be delegated or eliminated. Based on this realization, you decide to have a conversation with your manager and colleagues to discuss workload distribution and identify opportunities for delegation or collaboration. As you implement these changes, you continue to track your progress and assess the impact on your work-life balance.

As mentioned above having clients use a productivity list or even a job search list helps them with this. You can see the gaps or even see where you are progressing instead of being so hard on yourself. Sometimes you are doing just fine!

Many people, myself included, have this tendency to wanting to figure things out themselves, to hunt down the answer, find the knowledge and information bits ourselves. But truth be said, if the organization is large enough, the topic complex enough - it would be a waste of time and resources. Now as a manager, I try to spot these "knowledge-seekers" in my team early, recognize (and sympathize) in a 1:1 what they are trying to achieve, and try to steer them towards asking and utilizing the knowledge experts that already exists. Asking means you care. About the topic, about the company. And that's a great starting point for a career!

? If you're feeling overwhelmed, don't hesitate to seek support from a counsellor, coach, or mentor. They can provide guidance on maintaining balance.

Having a strong support system both within the workplace and outside of it can help in indescribable ways with work life balance. By surrounding myself with people who support and celebrate the big and small wins (as well as comfort in times of loss) I have been able to create a community of friends who encourage mental health and work life balance. By cultivating the interpersonal connections, people want to see you happy, healthy, and thriving.

I encountered a situation where an employee was struggling to manage their workload and personal commitments. They were feeling overwhelmed. In this scenario, I advised the employee to reach out to their supervisor to discuss their concerns openly. By doing so, they would help create an environment where their needs could be understood and accommodations could be made. I suggested they seek guidance from a mentor who could provide valuable insights on time management techniques. This support system allowed the employee to develop a plan, delegate tasks if necessary, and establish boundaries to better balance their work and personal life.

Ohne Zusammenarbeit funktioniert das Leben nicht, denn kein Mensch wei? alles und niemand stellt sich gerne selbst infrage. Es ist also wichtig, sich in seinem Verhalten durch Mitmenschen reflektieren zu k?nnen, deren Leben als vorbildlich gilt. In diesem Zusammenhang gilt, nicht ich bestimme diese Vorbildlichkeit, sie ist bereits für das ganze Leben definiert. Unser ganzes Zusammenleben basiert auf der goldenen Regel, die es gilt für jeden und in jedem Fall einzuhalten.

Celebrating your wins whether little or big wins is a great way to maintain a balance between work and life Acknowledging and appreciating your achievements not only boosts your motivation but also reminds you that life is not just about work. It’s a great reminder to always savor the moments, recharge and maintain a healthy balance between your professional and personal life. So always take out time to celebrate your successes and enjoy the journey towards achieving a fulfilling work life balance

I'm a big fan of celebrating victories, no matter how small. It is a great tool to build confidence and nurture a positive mindset. I encourage you to time block 15 minutes on Friday to reflect on the prior workweek, note down 3 wins, and celebrate them! These could be a mix of work and life wins. I call this 'Victory Friday' ??. Share your results with your friends, partner, flatmate, kids, or network! Celebrating with loved ones can help even boost the effects.

Celebrating small contributions will make a huge difference. Wins whether they are small or big doesnot matter, what matters is there celebration. Celebration makes the enviroment around us happy and happy souls can acheive anything. Celebrating both personal and professional life will acknowledge you and your peer hard work and committment. Thus celebrate your each day....

A win doesn't have to be big - it can be small but mighty - if you feel accomplished you did well. Sometimes that's the thing we need to keep coming or to pat ourselves on the back

Celebrating wins is a habit worth building. Tie in the celebration to the accomplishment so that you are in the moment and celebrating what you have accomplished to give you momentum to move forward.

I think rather than seeking what we think work-life balance means (which people might think is 50-50 balance), especially during a hectic week, what we want to aspire to seek is work life synergy. Yes we need to prioritize whats important and let go of what isn’t, and take care of ourselves during the midst of it all.. but rather than wanting to go back to seeking balance, its best to look at seeking synergy. When I say Synergy I mean the flow that will make you most sane, be able to focus on whats important for you today, and divide your time accordingly day by day. When we seek synergy, this means that there will be days that I will give more to work than life and vice versa. Its finding what keeps you centered at the end of the day.

1)Mornings for yourself. 2)Plan Accordingly 3)Exercise 4)Good Healthy Sleep 5)Learn to Delegate 6)One Thing at a Time 7)Say No (Don’t Overcommit) 8)Stay Dedicated

If I'm facing an overwhelmingly busy week I always start with time-blocked to make a list of what I need to do. Then I flag items that only can be done by me and what can I ask my team to help me with. Then I ask for help where I can and prioritize what needs to be done. I often find that by the end of the week priorities change, so I try to remember to take a deep breath and avoid analysis paralysis!

Avoid ambiguity when planning for work-life balance. Set measure KPIs as your health, wellness and family is equally important if not more important than work. On an individual level one way to ensure balance could be to set maximum (work) hours/week say 45 or 50. This will ensure that you are effectively able to measure and maintain a healthy work-life balance.

Set short term realistic goals, they become the push for the long term goals. Don't overlap yourself with much work, less is more. Prioritize your task and don't beat yourself too much if you are unable to achieve all, instead celebrate your wins.