Print Article for : Balancing Work And Life

[B139]Balancing Work And Life

by Marc Guidry, Mar

Do you have balance in your life? Do you work too much or play too hard? Is it simply a matter of choosing between the different dimensions of your life? Making that ?either/or? choice and calling it balanced? When you think about the dimensions of your life, do you think of the different roles that you must play in life? More often than not, we think of ways to separate our roles, employee at work, mommy and daddy at home, community activist or Little League coach in the community. The funny part about this is that all of these roles represent who we are. Our roles grow out of our values, principles and life missions and become the channels through which we live, love, learn and leave a legacy. So what's the answer to achieving the balance we seek? According to many of my clients and most people ?time??or lack of it'is the main culprit: ?If only I had more time, I could do everything and put my life into perfect balance.? While time management can be a serious issue, it does not have to be a barrier to happiness. Not putting the effort and commitment into establishing a clear path to your mission, vision and values are greater obstacles. The issue isn't balance; it's establishing priorities. Priorities do not bring perfection into your life but they do help you to gain better control over life's issues.

George Bernard Shaw wrote, ?If you take too long in deciding what to do with your life, you'll find you've done it.?

What can you do differently to begin to establish your priorities around your personal values to feel satisfied at home and at work? Try these exercises to focus your career planning and life thinking ? yes, you have to do the work to get to your goal!

1. Write down your ten favorite activities, the ones without which your life would feel robbed. Does your career choice allow you to do your favorite activities on a regular basis?

2. Write down the top five goals you want to accomplish in your career. (Think money, fame, impact, contribution and more.) Your selected career must enable you to reach these goals.

3. List everything you'd like to do in your lifetime. These lists can run several hundred items. Does your chosen career choice allow for the accomplishment of your dreams or are you just dreaming?

You are the steward over your time, talent and resources. Now is the time to begin to balance between your inner life and your outer desires. Synergy or balance comes when living, loving, learning and leaving a legacy grows together.

When it comes to many of us, it's perfectly normal to find ourselves contemplating the idea of a career change at some point in our lives. Many people decide early on in their lives what they're going to be doing for a living and dedicate themselves to a certain occupational path. However, there can come a time when one's current career just isn't quite making the grade anymore. Maybe the work is no longer as fulfilling or lucrative as it once was. Perhaps opportunities for upward advancement have dried up and withered away as the years rolled on, or maybe the career path you've chosen just wasn't as rewarding as you hoped it would be.

In any and all of those cases, you might want to consider the ways in which continued education can help. Learning valuable new skills can help expand the number of opportunities available to you in your current line of work. Alternatively, complete career training courses can help prepare you for a brand new career if you decide that what you do for a living is no longer for you. Whichever the case, it's easier to balance both work and learning than you may think.

One option available for those who need to worry about juggling work and learning is distance learning. Many of today's distance learning programs allow you to complete course work and study on your own time at a pace that's comfortable for you, and it's a viable option whether you are looking to earn an entirely new degree, or simply supplement your previous education with a few new learned skills or areas of expertise. You can schedule your schoolwork around your current job and communicate with your instructors via methods like e-mail, chat, or telephone making it a perfect option for people with especially busy lives, inflexible work schedules, or young children at home that need a considerable amount of care.

There are also work-based learning options available from many educational facilities as well for those who are considering going back to school full-time to pursue a brand new career. These programs combine the concepts of work and learning into a common experience and acknowledge actual real-world work experience in the student's field of interest as an important part of the learning process. When work and learning are combined in this way, and principles, skills, and applicable knowledge are actually immediately applied to a real-world experience, concepts are easier to grasp and the learning experience as a whole is enhanced. Students receive actual academic credit for combining work and learning as well, as learning on the job is considered to be an actual part of their curriculum.

There are many educational programs out there today that take into consideration how difficult it is to juggle the necessity of holding down a regular job with the desire to go back to school and further your education to better reinforce your worth when it comes to the job market. Explore the options available to you in your area and online to discover the many ways in which you can balance work and learning in your own life.

Article Source :

About Author

Both Marc Guidry & James Copper are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Marc Guidry has sinced written about articles on various topics from Advertising Guide, Pregnancy Problems and Mortgage. Marc is an internet saavy businessman who is balances a 9 to 5 office schedule with webmastering sites such as and other ventures.Courtesy of:. Marc Guidry's top article generates over 9900 views. to your Favourites.

James Copper has sinced written about articles on various topics from Finances, Mortgage and Mortgage. James Copper is a writer for where you can find out about. James Copper's top article generates over 1220000 views. to your Favourites.