Life is a balancing act – sometimes you have a beam to balance on and other times it’s more like a rope. If you prioritize correctly, you will have less stress and be happier. The trick is not determining what is most important to you; it’s about learning how to ensure you allocate time to the things that are most important to you. Many people face the struggle of balancing their work and personal life. This struggle can seem overwhelming, especially if you have a job that requires you to put in extra hours to ensure your responsibilities and/or projects are completed successfully. If you feel stressed and overwhelmed with your position, start to evaluate whether or not there is anything that could make it more manageable. Sometimes, spending a day to determine all the tasks that need to get completed within a specified time frame and putting a plan together for executing those tasks can be well spent and cause less stress. True, it may seem like it’s a bigger hassle to spend that time putting a plan together rather than completing tasks, but you will be much more at ease knowing specific items you need to take care of, an estimated time for completing those items and it will ensure that you don’t accidently overlook or forget something. If you feel like you have tried everything and are trapped in a job that is forcing you to neglect your personal life, then you should seriously consider looking for another job. Questions you have to ask yourself are: 1) can I find a similar position with a comparable pay; 2) can I afford and am I willing to look for a position with less responsibility and pay to make more time for my personal life and; 3) what are the pros and cons for staying vs. leaving. And remember, transferring jobs isn’t a simple fix, you also have to make sure that you enjoy the field of work you are in.

Even if you are able to balance your work and personal life, you may have some balancing within your personal life that needs attention. Often, people must balance between their spouse/significant other, friends, children and personal time. It’s easy to get caught up with your spouse or significant other and then realize that you haven’t spent any time with your friends. A quick fix for this is to have a designated boys and girls nights out – this can be bi-weekly, monthly or however frequently works best for you personal needs. This strategy will ensure you spend time with your friends and also be good for your relationship with your spouse/significant other. Studies have shown that spending time apart with your friends and/or by yourself will help you grow as a person and in turn, help your relationship. It is possible; however, to spend too much time with your friends and neglect your spouse/significant other. The key to balancing your life is to understand your needs, prioritize and also be considerate of what those who are important in your life need.

Here are a few steps to start balancing your life.

1)     Write down the things that have the biggest impact on your life. For example, what makes you a better person, what do you enjoy doing and who impacts your life positively?

2)     Assign a number to each thing/person you write down based on importance. For example, 1 = “most important” and 20 = “least important”

3)     Assign a number with a different color to reveal how much time you currently spend on each item or person. For example, 1 = “spend the most time” and 20 = “spend the least time.”

4)     Compare where each item ranks in terms of its importance vs. time spent on. You’ll be able to easily identify which items are being neglecting and need balancing.