Work Life Balance: Work Life a Balancing Act
By Thomas
Murrell
Australians are loosing their laidback, carefree
reputation, as we continue to work longer hours, exercise less and neglect
our leisure and family time.
Recent research indicates that 67 per cent of Australian
professionals spend at least 20 hours a week thinking about their job when
they should be relaxing, and less than half take their entitled annual
leave.
Why is juggling work and life priorities an increasingly
difficult challenge for many people?
Could it be we are trying to pack more and more into our
busy lives?
Or is it the fact we are now so overloaded with
information that our attention span is getting shorter and shorter as we
strive to wade through the deluge of messages now coming at us in a range
of forms.
The Gartner group has found that we spend on average an
hour a day dealing with emails and that only includes work related
communication.
We are creating unnecessary stress for ourselves, which is
taking a heavy toll on our families, not to mention our health.
Is this due to the information rich society we now live
in?
Marketers in the US now know the average teenager is
exposed to more than 3000 discreet advertising messages each day and by
the time they have reached 18 they will have seen more than 10 million.
How do you manage family commitments while enhancing your
career and dealing with all this increased clutter?
Well, most people are aware of their tendency to overload
on work or information but simply don’t know what to do to get their life
back to a healthy balance.
Being successful isn’t only about your career and your
possessions, it’s about waking up every day and feeling good about the
person you are and the life that you have created.
Many people are searching for ways to achieve positive and
lasting change both in and out of work.
As Paul Valery said early in the last century "the trouble
with the future is - it isn't what it used to be".
The reality is many people are now living out someone
else’s life dreams without leaving the comfort of their own lounge room.
Why renovate your house or makeover your garden, when you can fantasise
and watch someone else do it on TV for you?
If you find yourself in this twilight zone you are not
alone. Perth has more sunshine than any other capital yet Western
Australians watch on average 14 hours a week of television.
Most people spend more time watching TV than taking time
to create positive changes in their lives.
Life is not a rehearsal so why not step up and make a
difference?
Take the example of two Perth primary school girls; Sarah
Duff and Sarah Poggioli both aged 11 years. They raised enough money to
hire a plane to fly over their school pulling a banner with the following
message: "believe you can reach your goals, then you can".
It is amazing how children can help put life into
perspective.
So what are the secrets to a healthy work life balance in
a busy and demanding world? Here are the Top 5 ways you can get the life
you deserve.
1. Work at being an optimist and take action. Take a
positive attitude to life, get out and do things. Make things happen and
take action.
2. Have strong self-belief. Believe in your potential to
create the life you really want for you and your family.
3. Exercise regularly and eat well. Your physiology
directly influences the quality of your life.
4. Visualise happy endings, schedule fun, and keep life
simple. Make time to enjoy life. To laugh. To take time out. 5. Find
perspective. Take the helicopter view to see the big picture and delegate
if you can’t do it all yourself.
Thomas Murrell MBA CSP is an international business
speaker, consultant and award-winning broadcaster. Media Motivators is his
regular electronic magazine read by 7,000 professionals in 15 different
countries.
You can subscribe by visiting
http://www.8mmedia.com.
Thomas can be contacted directly at +6189388 6888 and is available to
speak to your conference, seminar or event. Visit Tom's blog at
http://www.8mmedia.blogspot.com.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/
