2. “Improve Your Work Life Balance: A Practical Guide To Balancing Work, Family and Life”
Copyright © 2011 Balancing Australia Pty Ltd | www.BalancingAustralia.com.au
Download full version of this eBook by going through
this link www.BalancingAustralia.com.au or email us through
info@balancingaustralia.com.au.
Copyright © 2011 Balancing Australia Pty Ltd
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
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3. “Improve Your Work Life Balance: A Practical Guide To Balancing Work, Family and Life”
Copyright © 2011 Balancing Australia Pty Ltd | www.BalancingAustralia.com.au
Improve Your Work Life Balance:
A Practical Guide To Balancing
Work, Family and Life
Introduction
You’re someone who’s up to a LOT in your life! You want to have it all, well at least do your
best trying! You’re busy juggling work, family, friends and your hobbies, and of course, YOU in
there too! You’re looking for ways you can improve your Work Life Balance and this eBook aims to
do just that. I’ve put together the top tips to help you to balance your work and everything else
that’s important to you. This eBook will help you to assess your current Work Life Balance, set
goals and provide practical ways you can achieve them. I’ve also included bonus tips to help you
specifically to manage the work side of the Work Life Balance equation. I want you to win on your
Work Life Balance journey, so let’s get started!
Why Read This eBook?
You may be wondering how I can help you improve your Work Life Balance. There are a lot
of great resources out there that you can access and I’m delighted that you’re someone who goes
searching for external assistance to help you to create the life that you want. Work Life Balance is
not just something that I write about. I am personally passionate about helping others achieve the
life that they desire and DESERVE! By sharing my story may help you to understand why.
My Story
My Work Life Balance journey started when I was a child, where one of my parents worked
6-7 days a week to support the family. I remember being ridiculously excited when my Dad came
home from work, in the hope that we’d be able to play! Unfortunately though, most of the time
my Dad was absolutely exhausted. As I got older and I understood money and the concept of
working, I started to wonder, how it is that we’re in the 21 st century and we’re still working so
much. This lead to a career in human resources where I could advocate the needs of employees
whilst also managing business requirements. Despite this career choice, I found myself in a
situation that I did not have the support of my employer. We were experiencing rapid growth and
I had an unmanageable workload. I had stopped almost all of my outside work pursuits (study,
sport, career development and socialising) to try to sustain the ever increasing mountain of work
piling up. This was still not enough. I had a breakdown. I remember lying on the floor in my
bedroom, crying uncontrollably and feeling utterly helpless. I was completely spent. I had put
everything into my job and had nothing left to give. As a result all areas of my life suffered,
including my health, career, fitness and most importantly my relationships.
This was one of the most challenging times in my life.
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4. “Improve Your Work Life Balance: A Practical Guide To Balancing Work, Family and Life”
Copyright © 2011 Balancing Australia Pty Ltd | www.BalancingAustralia.com.au
Despite the difficulty of this experience, it was however the biggest learning opportunity for me
and one that I would not change for anything. It allowed me to start reassessing what IS important
and how I can go about CAUSING the life that I want, so that I would never be in that situation
again.
The reason why I share this story is to let you know I’VE BEEN THERE. I’ve been there personally
trying to juggle it all, I’ve been there as a young child who’s parent worked a lot and I’ve been
there on the employer side. I have certainly learned a lot from these different perspectives along
the way. As I continue on my ever-evolving Work Life Balance journey, it is important for me to
help others achieve this too. I don’t want you to get into a situation that you can’t work due to
stress, your relationships breakdown or you can’t pursue a life-long dream you have because
you’re working too much or even worse, a life-threatening illness. So without further or do, let me
share some of the biggest lessons, tips and advice that I’ve learned to help you improve your Work
Life Balance and start living the life that you LOVE!
What is Work Life Balance?
Work Life Balance is about achieving a sense of peace between work and the many other
areas of one’s life. This is often referred to as juggling the needs, responsibilities, expectations and
desires of ourselves, partners, families, friends, employers and community groups. Many of us
juggle our way through life and have the experience that we’re not getting it right, not doing what
we know or want to be doing and feeling very ‘out of balance’. Sound familiar? Well, you’re not
alone. Work Life Balance is what we really want – a harmonious and rich way of life. This
optimum state of living a balanced life is commonly related to managing all that is important to an
individual – emotionally, physically, intellectually, socially and spiritually. This of course is different
for everyone and varies throughout our lives as our priorities change.
What is Your Work Life Balance Like?
Our modern lives are busy, complicated and constantly changing. If you’re reading this,
you are probably questioning your Work Life Balance and/or you want to better balance all the
important things in your life. You may have some areas in your life that you’re completely satisfied
with, but there are other areas that you are very dissatisfied.
What signs are there that you are straining to find balance in your life? Are you stressed? Are you
always in a rush for time? Do you regret being at work because you’d rather be home? Are you
thinking about work when you’re at home spending quality time with your family? Do you feel
guilty a lot? Do you feel sad that you’re not able to do what you really want to? Take some time
to get clear on what life is really like for you.
Why is Work Life Balance Important?
Our lives are busy and we get onto the ‘treadmill of life’. We don’t always stop to
understand why we do what we do. It is imperative to take time out to comprehend why Work
Life Balance is important to you. I guess it comes back to the big question – what do you want out
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5. “Improve Your Work Life Balance: A Practical Guide To Balancing Work, Family and Life”
Copyright © 2011 Balancing Australia Pty Ltd | www.BalancingAustralia.com.au
of life? Your feeling of imbalance right now may be because something that you VALUE is not in
alignment with your current REALITY.
To help us understand this further, we must have an appreciation of what we value. We all value
very different things – for example stability, family, autonomy, achievement, status, money,
personal growth, freedom, relationships, integrity, making a difference and the list goes on.
Consider what your top 5 values are, that are core to your being and influential to the decisions
that you make. To help with this exercise, consider when you have been at peak emotional states
of happiness and sadness. What is it about having these experiences that made you feel fulfilled,
joyful, excited, sad, frustrated or disappointed? What is the underlining value or belief that you
hold for yourself about that experience?
For example, your boss calls you into their office, thanks you for all of your hard work and offers
you a promotion. You’ve put in the extra hours and it has been all worth it, as this is important to
you. Some underlining values in this scenario could be career advancement, achievement and
status.
Consider some of your values/believes that are important to you in your life. List your top 5 values
here:





This value list of course is not final. You have many more values that drive what you believe and
how you operate in the world. In addition, you can’t ignore the fact that sometimes your values
maybe conflicting. For example, career advancement and family may both be important to you,
therefore you feel stressed when you have competing priorities in both areas. By understanding
our values more, allows us to make better decisions that align our reality with what’s important.
What is Your Imbalance Costing You?
Complete an honest assessment about the toll that your work life imbalance is having on
you. It could be affecting you spiritually, emotionally, intellectually and physically, as well as
having an effect on your social relationships and your finances. How much is it costing you? What
is the effect on your partner? What are the impact on your children, family members, friends,
work colleagues and others? Are you absent during important family events because you’re
working or playing ‘catch-up’ on your to do list? Are you sick more often? Are you short on time
and energy? Are you arriving home in a bad mood and taking it out on those you love? What are
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6. “Improve Your Work Life Balance: A Practical Guide To Balancing Work, Family and Life”
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the REAL costs of your work life balance imbalance? Take a moment to really appreciate where
you are at right now.
What Do You Want?
The last few questions may have left you feeling a bit depressed or disheartened. Now that
you are more familiar with why Work Life Balance is important to you and your current reality, the
awesome news is that you get to do something about it! You get to CHOOSE what it is that YOU
WANT – this is the fun part!
There isn’t any point trying to solve an issue like Work Life Balance when you don’t have your end
goal in mind. The reality for most of us is that we do need a regular source of money to live on, so
being on a continual holiday may not be a possibility right now. If you could design the life you
want to have, considering your individual circumstances, what would your life look like? What
would be the ideal balance between work and the rest of your life for you?
I understand that this is a very broad question, so let’s get specific and focus on areas of
your life that you’d really like to address. Pick three areas of your life where you need more
balance. Some areas to look at are your family life, work, your health and fitness, relationships
with friends, your finances, time for yourself, etc. For each area of your life that you choose to
work on, come up with a specific goal that you want to achieve. Make sure it is something that is
measurable so that you’ll know whether you have accomplished what you set out to achieve.
When would you like to have this by?
Here are some examples:
 ‘To attend two fitness sessions each week this month’, or
 ‘To have a weekly date night with my partner every week for the next two months’.
 ‘To leave work on time twice per week for the next six weeks’
In the points below, write out your specific goals:
1.
2.
3.
What will having that do for you? If you were able to achieve just these three goals, what impact
will that have on your life? Get present to what your life will be like WHEN you achieve your work
life balance goals.
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7. “Improve Your Work Life Balance: A Practical Guide To Balancing Work, Family and Life”
Copyright © 2011 Balancing Australia Pty Ltd | www.BalancingAustralia.com.au
How Can You Make It Happen?
Woo hoo! So you’ve decided on some areas in your life that could use better balance!
Here are proven ways for achieving Work Life Balance:
Download full version of this eBook by going through
this link www.BalancingAustralia.com.au or email us through
info@balancingaustralia.com.au.
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