Work Life Balance Tips for Career Women: Stay Happy and Productive

culled from:http://youqueen.com


It’s hard to be in control of your life when you feel like you’re stuck on a pick board with the options being: work success, family, and friends, and you can only pick two of those options. There’s a happy medium we can all find by keeping ourselves in check and remembering to balance between the three to the best of our abilities.
This list contains some work life balance tips to ensure you never lean too far to one side and compromise to keep everything in check.

Whether it’s keeping in touch with friends while maintaining a family or keeping a partnership alive with a stressful job, everyone has felt torn in multiple directions. The trick is to decide what direction you allow yourself to be pulled in and keep yourself from being stretched so thin you lose sight of what’s important.
There’s no exact formula for how to live a happy life once you’ve already reached career success and finding the love of your life. The storybooks would lead us to believe that that’s the end of it; you’ve reached it, congratulations. We know, however, that that isn’t the full truth.
You still have to maintain friendships, keep the romance alive, nurture a family of your own, if you have one, all while continuing to keep the success you’ve worked so hard to achieve. There’s no easy answer here for those who have all they’ve ever wanted but can’t figure out how to keep what they need.
We can’t write a fail-safe guide to balance your life, but we can share tips on how to keep appreciating your life no matter what it throws at you and allow yourself to grow along the way.
Here’s the list we’ve compiled, which contains tips to keep your personal life and work life separate, but coexisting peacefully.

When you’re away from work, really stay away

This one is huge! How many people do we know that even on vacation are constantly taking business calls and scheduling meetings, huddled in their hotel room in the dark corner, waiting for Wi-Fi?
It’s understandable for sure; everyone has busy lives and careers that don’t wait just because we happen to be in San Francisco. But the point of a vacation, and more importantly, family time, is to truly be with those people.
It’s hard to separate yourself from the grind and hustle when it means money in your pocket and paying for that nice vacation you’re on. Be that as it may, there is no point in taking a vacation or a family picnic if the entire time you’re going to be worried about what you’re currently missing out on workwise right that second.
It may seem silly to you sometimes, especially when family time is at a lull, and it’s the perfect time to answer your bosses email about conferences tomorrow.

However, if you don’t set in place strict policies and “work free” zones for yourself, you’ll drive yourself crazy, and more importantly, your loved ones away. While your newest client story is impressive, save it to tell your husband in bed when talking about your day, and keep table talk at dinner about things everyone can relate to and wants to hear about.
It’s difficult, especially for an ambitious woman in a high stress career field. Sometimes it feels like work is the only thing to talk about, and neglecting it takes out a huge portion of our day. This is true to an extent, and there’s a time and a place for every detail of your ambitious career, but sometimes it needs to take a backseat in order to fully enjoy the day.
That being said, always make time to ask your partner each day about their day at work and at home, this can be an intimate moment for you two, and a great way to compartmentalize what’s happened. Nobody knows your coworker drama like your partner, and they’ll be right up to speed with what kind of not-so-passive response you should leave for a coworker who seems to be working entirely against you.
Make sure to let your lover in on the workings of your day, but not spend the whole time complaining, they’ll want to give you solutions and you should listen to them, they know you better than anyone.

Remember, you aren’t the only stressed person alive

This is harder than it sounds when your deadlines are piling up, your meeting is set to go before you can get there, and your coworkers seem like they’re conspiring to watch you fail. It’s easy to think “I am the most stressed person in this house, this neighborhood, even this city.” But remember, you’re not.
No matter what you are experiencing, don’t let it make you self-centered and swallowed by your own stress.
Even if your friends and significant other don’t seem like they’re as stressed or have as much things on their plate, in a way they do. Your stress is their stress, so remember this when you’re wallowing alone in deadlines. In one way or another, every person you pass on the street is fighting his or her own version of the same stress you are feeling right now in different facets.

When you’re so stressed you feel like you can’t function, focus that attention into asking someone else how they are, whether that be texting an old friend or talking with your partner. Stress can be used to remind us to check up on other people; don’t let it make you self-absorbed just because you are having a tight schedule.
If stress reminds you to check up on the relationships you have instead of being absorbed by it, it can be a positive thing that improves relationships instead of tearing them apart.

Be upfront about what you want from people

When you’re having a really horrible day, sometimes you just want to unload your to-do list onto someone who is ready to hear it and by the end say “Yeah, that’s a lot. Looks like you have a lot on your plate today” and nothing more. Or maybe you’re the type who would rather hear “I’m sorry that’s happening to you, is there anything I can do to make your day less stressful.”
Whichever type of person you are, tell your significant other or best friend which you prefer, or if you need something else entirely. They aren’t mind readers anymore than you know what they need to hear at every moment. Communication can zap work stress right in its tracks and make all your relationships stronger.
It’s awkward sometimes to find the way to tell someone how you want them to respond to you, but it’s worth it in the end, because if they know how to handle you when you’re overwhelmed, you’ll know how to handle them.

Schedule one enjoyable thing for every day

This one is key to having a successful work life that you will enjoy. Not everyone can have a career that makes them feel alive, but everyone can make each day of the life they’ve chosen count. Plan one exciting thing for your day, whether it’s something small like getting a cup of fancy coffee from that local barista who always mixes the foam just right, to going on a run.
Find out whether your chosen activity needs to be done with someone else or alone. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to have the most exciting part of your day alone or with another person, it’s all up to you and what makes you happiest.
If you are the type that needs a scheduled section of “me-time”, don’t hold back from telling your partner or friends politely that in order for it to count for you as rejuvenation, it has to be done alone. Someone who is offended by that is either someone who you haven’t communicated this to clearly or doesn’t have your best interests at heart.
If getting a weekly manicure makes you feel stable and reinvigorated, pencil that right in, because some rituals are worth a little extra cash in exchange for inner peace.

If you live a high paced work life make sure your health doesn’t suffer

If you’re the type that seems to have endless energy for every task in the office, but when you get home you’re too tired to open anything but a microwave meal, you’re selling yourself short.
It’s understandably difficult to find time to make healthy food, get to the gym, get to the local farmer’s market or library. By not thinking of these things as chores you don’t have time to do, but necessary acts to keep up with your lifestyle, it becomes easier.
As a career woman you have more duties than many people could ever comprehend, and while it’s impressive, it doesn’t give you a pass. You can’t expect a race car to run perfect races on low-grade cheap fuel without an occasional oil change.
Realize that you need as much upkeep as your career position, and make time to fit that in. It’s not a choice or hobby whether you lead a healthy life amongst your busy schedule, it’s a necessity. Anything else sells you short and goes against what you stand for. And remember, you’ve come a long way to be where you are, so you stand for a lot.

Release your stress in a healthy way

If going to the gym isn’t something you can see yourself doing, while you’ll have to make other food sacrifices to keep your figure fit, you still need a way to release energy. Whether you store up mental energy that needs an outlet or physical steam doesn’t matter. Do something that actively invigorates you and gets you outside.
Leaving the house and the office to do whatever it is that fuels your fire is important. You need a neutral place where you can be free to push career plans to the side for a second. Nothing should be tied to this place, other than a positive activity that releases stress. I’m not talking a casino or a brewery.
Whether it’s your favorite restaurant you go every week to or reading a book on your Kindle in the same grassy spot every Sunday or even going to some sort of church.
Whatever it is, there are so many options for neutral places you can go, which aren’t the office, home or the gym.

And if exercising is something you can stomach doing, power to you. Kill two birds with one stone and improve your health while releasing stress at the same time. Whether it’s lifting weights or going to a weekly karaoke night doesn’t matter. So long as you are doing something not only for your enjoyment like the previous tip, but as an outlet for releasing stress.
This should be a different plan than the one enjoyable thing per day, because while the enjoyable thing was something you watch, let happen or experience… the stress reliever is something you actively pursue. Besides, we already know you’re a go-getter, so make sure you can continue to strive at your workplace to the best of your ability by being fit and ready.
Let us know what you think about our tips on keeping a balanced life amidst a hefty career. Share this if you find yourself struggling to find life balance or if anyone you know could use the encouragement.
You’ve sacrificed a lot to get to where you are today; don’t let today’s achievement set you back in other aspects of your life. Your success doesn’t have to mean a more stressful life; in fact, it can mean just the opposite.