How to Achieve Business & Life Balance

More and more people come to the idea that for happiness you need to live in pleasure and do what you love. It is interesting that even when a hobby becomes a job, and a self-employed person is not tied to an office or a work schedule from 9 a.m to 6 p.m., there is still a place for routine and the feeling that you are acting ineffectively. When you walk along a tightrope, you always feel when losing balance.

The good news is that there are tested psychological tools, which help in maintaining a healthy correlation between work and personal life.

Tip One - Reach Awareness

In order to maintain the business and private life balance, it should be started with awareness. Awareness is the goal of all ancient teachings, such as Taoism, and various spiritual practices, for example, yoga, known throughout the world. The religions of the world are calling for a conscious life. Awareness of the problem is also the task of psychotherapy. Once you understand where your time is going, you will be able to manage it. 

Tool 1 - Work-Life Ratio Calculation

Take a piece of paper and a pencil to do some simple math. Subtract working hours from your day. It will immediately become clear how much time you leave for your life. Look at your work-life ratio and answer the question: Is it what you WANT or what you NEED? If the answer is “A NEED”, then apply one or all of the tools given below.

Tool 2 - Time Tracking

The easiest way to get insights is the timing of the day. What should you do? Within 1-2 weeks, write down in the timetable everything your day includes. Everything means EVERY THING. Your daily timeline must include each of your actions by hours. Only in this way, you will be able to track things that take time, but in return do not advance you towards goals. For example, you could spend a lot of time checking random emails instead of urgent and important deals. Having realized this, you can easily decide what changes are needed and implement them using the presidential method of setting priorities, which is described further.

Tip Two - Set Priorities

The path from stress to productivity goes through the 4 quadrants invented by Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United States.

Tool 3 - Eisenhower’s Matrix

What can be more intense than the regime of the President’s day? Nevertheless, if you determine the priorities, then the burden becomes feasible. The five-star general of World War II, Eisenhower, was an effective manager. He used a simple four-quadrant diagram, the answers to which helped him separate urgent tasks from important ones.

What do you need to do? List all your actual tasks and prioritize them into four categories, which are the following.

1. Urgent and important (they must be done first)
2. Important but not urgent (you have some time to carefully schedule them)
3. Urgent but not important (just delegate to helpers)
4. Neither urgent nor important (you may skip them)

You can watch the video with detailed instructions to Eisenhower’s Matrix here.

By the way, Stephen Richards Covey included Eisenhower’s method into his famous “THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE”.

Tip Three - Improve the Balance

Tool 4 - The Wheel of Life Balance

The Wheel of Life Balance is a very effective coaching exercise that makes it possible to understand:

●      what your life consists of

●      what really matters to you

●      change in which area will bring global improvements in your whole life

●      what steps you can take to improve your life in the next 72 hours

Traditionally, the wheel of life balance is done for the next 6 months or a year. It’s very good to do it on New Year’s Eve. It allows you to plan the next year. What do you need to do?

1. Draw the wheel and divide it into several sectors. Usually, 8 sectors are applied, but you can use more and less. It is completely individual.

1. Name sectors:

●      Either as your social roles. For example, a man, father, husband, partner, business owner, employee, etc.

●      Or as areas of your life. Examples: love, family, children, health, money, career, business, self-realization, hobby, creativity, leisure, entertainment, travel, development, awareness, spirituality, or whatever else is important to you.

1. Write inside the sector - What is the implementation of this sector for you out of ten in ten months or a year? Let’s take “Business”, for instance. Write the criteria for this category, which show the maximum that you want for this area. This will be your ideal business ever imagined with the highest grade - 10 out of 10. So, you can mention: ‘Income $5,000 a month’, ‘Savings $2,000 a month’, etc.
2. Honestly answer your question: “And what is my result for each sector today? Is my current business 10 out of 10? 9 out of 10? 8 out of 10..?” Mark this point on the scale of each sector.
3. Connect all the implementation points of each sector. Perhaps, it will look like this:

The circular diagram provides a visualization of all areas of your life at the moment and an understanding of where to direct the forces in the first place.

Recommendation: start operating in the selected sector within 72 hours.

 So, to find a balance between business and life, explore these areas using the tools described, and then act - and your life will get significantly more harmonized!

Best regards,

Sergii Oliinyk

?? SimCorp Dimension Business Analyst & Project Manager