Life has become a race with everybody striving to reach at the top. However, what you lose out are moments with family, friends and most importantly yourself. To add on, so much time has been spent in this routine that you have given up, that someday you will achieve this illusive ‘Work Life Balance’.

Let us also look at the situation from the other side. Are there circumstances at home or your personal life which have stopped you from progressing in your career? You want to go back to your job or want to take that promotion and execute more responsibilities but factors in your personal life don’t allow you to. Today a lot of us struggle with the dilemma of achieving equilibrium between work and life. The situation gets even more complicated as relationships start getting affected which further compounds the problem.

Before we move towards the solution let us understand the meaning of work-life balance. Work Life Balance is not about completing your office job in specific time and then going home to finish your home tasks (home time). It is about being in a mental state where you work passionately in your professional life and are at mental peace, and enjoy your personal life.

I also agree that there will be occasions where one will take over the other but that phase should be temporary. More importantly, you should not get bogged down in the phase & should be excited as it is for the greater good.

I recommend the following steps which can help to achieve an ideal mental state where you can enjoy your life personally and professionally.

• Analyze ‘Where you are’ and ‘Where you want to be’ – Sit back and dwell upon where you want to be professionally in terms of money, career or any other associated objectives. Similarly what is your expectation from your personal life, list down the activities and milestones you want to achieve.
• ‘What will you gain’ & ‘What will you lose’ – It is known that it is impossible to have everything. However, when you prioritize in terms of gain and loss, you focus on things which are most important and achieve them and lose out on those which will not have an impact in the medium and long run
• What is the highest value you seek – Ask yourself what do you want from a rewarding and a successful career as the highest return and what do you want from a great personal life. You will be surprised to realize that the answer to both will be the same. This means rather than one part of your life dominating the other it can facilitate to make the other better. E.g. list down the qualities you demonstrate in each of your roles and use them to improve the other.
• Set goals and activities– Set simple and achievable goals that will help you achieve the equilibrium and freeze on activities that will help you achieve the goal. E.g. what small changes in your daily routine can help you to accomplish the set activities and goals.

Take a break and think on the points highlighted above and you will be able to find answers to the difficult question of how to achieve work-life balance.