Ways to restore your teetering work-life balance

What’s more, it might even reduce your effectiveness in your work — both the mind and body need a break from thinking about and doing the same things all the time to recharge and keep coming up with fresh ideas.

Keep a rational schedule
The more you’re trying to juggle, the more important it is to make a good schedule and keep to it. Block out all your work and non-work commitments and make sure to allow plenty of downtime and non-work time.

Treat non-work commitments as seriously as you treat working commitments — the time you’ve assigned to family, housework, and your own activities needs to be just as inviolable as the time you spend in the office, going to meetings, or meeting deadlines.

This is especially true if you’re so busy that you can’t reschedule that off-work time.

Learn to say “No.”
If you’re having trouble keeping on top of everything going on in your life, it may be that you’ve committed more time than you have.

If you’re like me (and just about everyone else), you don’t like to refuse favours, new responsibilities, or even casual requests, for fear of looking undependable; upsetting someone and missing out on something.

Make a point of seriously considering any request that comes your way, and double-check your schedule before taking anything else on.

When it’s too much, don’t be afraid to refuse — you won’t be doing anyone any good by taking on tasks that you won’t be able to do well because you’re too overwhelmed to handle them, or by accepting social invitations that you’re too stressed out to enjoy.

Clean out your mental closet
There’s substantial evidence that managing the way we think can have a profound and lasting effect on mood and motivation.

To nurture our nature, we also have to discard all the old notions and the negative beliefs that keep us from springing forth.

Write positive affirmations that counter such beliefs and post such statements at places where you’ll see them often.

Don’t worry if you don’t yet truly believe such statements. Action often precedes belief. Identify what activity you will discard because it feels too tight and constraining.

Batch it
Batching tasks can be a great way to get more done in less time, whether it’s handling your work e-mail or your mail at home.

You’ll work faster and better because your mind is only on one thing, and when it’s done, you can forget it — so worrying about that bill you have to pay or that e-mail you should respond to doesn’t “spill over” into the rest of your day. You know that your bill will get paid during your normal bill-paying time.

Get it ‘wrong’ the first time
Sounds funny!