As a married career-person it can be difficult to create that perfect work/life balance. After all, you have work and financial responsibilities, duties, and chores in your home, and a romantic relationship to care for. Striking a balance between your family and your career can be especially challenging if you are also raising children. You may feel overwhelmed wondering where to put your time and attention. Just remember, there is no reason why one aspect of your life should suffer in order to let the other ones flourish. You can have a successful career and happy family life!
Why A Work/Life Balance is Difficult
Creating a work/life balance means equalizing how much time you spend working versus taking enough time for yourself and your home life to maintain happy, healthy relationships.
Trying to schedule time with your mate, your children, and spending time together as a family all while working as hard as you can isn’t always easy. Interestingly, it is millennials who are having the most trouble striking the balance, with most feeling compelled to check in with work while they are off the clock. One study even revealed that 40% of Gen Y’s feel guilty just for using all of their allotted vacation time.
Guilt, exhaustion, and stretching yourself too thin can make a starting point for a work/life balance difficult to find.
A successful career and happy family life can be done, however, if you stick with these easy tips!
1. Communication– If you want a happy marriage, a happy family, and a happy work life, you must communicate, communicate, communicate. Here are three avenues that require your constant communication in order to have a successful career and family life.
- In Your Marriage: Communication is important in a marriage because it allows both partners to be open and honest about their needs and wants. Communicate with your spouse about what areas you could both be doing better in to make your marriage stronger. This is a relationship that needs to be continuously nurtured. It is your job to ensure you are doing your absolute best to give your partner everything they need emotionally and physically. This means taking the time to listen, communicate, and bond both physically and mentally.
- With Your Family Unit: What does your family currently need from you that they aren’t getting? Of course, it is more than likely that you are a wonderful parent and spouse who is doing a lot of good things for their family. However, it is still important to allow your family the opportunity to communicate how the family dynamic can improve.
- At Work: It is important that you communicate with your employer on a regular basis. Not only will your boss appreciate your checking it, but it will also allow you to create a rapport. Communicate with your workplace about what you can do better, what you do best, and about your family responsibilities, should it ever become an issue.
2. Motivation– Being motivated to create a successful career and family life means being willing to take on new challenges, making connections in the workplace, and having self-control and focus when it comes to putting your family first.
One way to stay motivated is by setting goals for your romantic relationship, parental relationship, and work relationship. This way that you will always have something to strive toward that makes you a better, more balanced person.
Another way is spending time with your family and setting strict boundaries to ensure that when you are home, all of your focus and attention goes to your family. Do not respond to work e-mails, texts or calls while you are at home. If you can’t shake the nagging feeling telling you to get back to work, try a breathing exercise to clear your mind.
3. Responsibility- Being responsible is the third key to having a successful career and a solid family life. After all, who are you more responsible for than your family and your job? These are the three most important aspects of responsibility in your life:
- Your Finances: Earning money is essential for paying your bills, your insurance, getting groceries, and having enough materially to survive. You are not selfish for wanting to provide for yourself and your family. You are not a bad person for wanting to spoil your family with more than the average income. Just remember not to let the desire to get rich cloud the time you could be using to connect with your family.
- Your Family: When it comes to being responsible for someone, your children and your spouse are the highest priority. It is up to you to feed, clothe, and house your family adequately. You are also responsible for guiding your children through life, setting a good example, and creating a healthy relationship with them as they continue to grow and mature. If you want to set a great work/life balance, make sure that the time you have with your children and partner is not interrupted by your compulsion to work.
- Your workload: Money isn’t everything, but it is still important for living. You are responsible for your workload, your career, your employees, and in general: your work. Be sure that you are living up to these responsibilities by being on time and getting your work done every day.
You can have a successful career and family life, but you must be willing to work hard in all three of these key items. Communicate regularly with your family, spouse, and workplace, stay motivated about your goals, and always live up to your responsibility as a partner, parent, and employee. Learning how to maintain all the important aspects of your life doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time, patience, and effort from everyone involved.
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Rachel Pace
Rachel Pace is a relationship expert with years of experience in training and helping couples. She has helped countless individuals and organizations around the world, offering effective and efficient solutions for healthy and successful relationships. Her mission is to provide inspiration, support and empowerment to everyone on their journey to a great marriage. She is a featured writer for Marriage.com, a reliable resource to support healthy happy marriages. "
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