?The Gift of Balance in Your Life ? May you find the balance of life, time for work but also time for play.? Too much of one thing ends up creating stress that no one needs in their life.??? – Catherine Pulsifer

Whether you are a full time mom, a business owner or working for someone else, you are probably trying to divide your time and attention between work, yourself, and the people you care about. Work-life balance means different things to different people. Is it coming home after a long day leaving work stuff behind? Or if you work from home, is it actually leaving the house for some nurturing activities?

I usually go to the gym three times a week. When I exercise, I feel healthier, more energized and free from the ?clutter? in my head. This week, I gave 3 presentations to different groups of women. With the time it took to prepare for the presentations, it was a packed week. I skipped my second exercise da and then almost skipped my third exercise day. It was hard to decide if I should skip it to catch up on work, or go anyway.

One of the women in my presentation this week shared that she works too much and rests too little ?but I don’t have a choice?, she said. ?I have to work so much and I have no time to rest?. There is nothing I can do about it. It’s work.

I remembered her when trying to make up my mind about the gym.

Really? Do we not have a choice?

We do! We are in charge of our choices and decisions. Our brain tells us that we’re not? that working so much is a fact, not something that could be changed. But it’s not a fact. It’s our choice, even if it doesn’t feel like it. We have a lot more control over our lives than we think.

I ended up going to the gym. I was so energized and motivated when I came back that it actually took me less time to get things done. Writing my blog was easy since creativity and inspiration were simply flowing. I know that clearing my head while exercising was the key.

For me, exercising is important in order to keep work-life balance.

Of course there are other important factors as well: setting boundaries with how late I work, allowing myself to take breaks, to rest, to do something fun, to socialize and to feel that there is more to life than work.

Here are my Top 7 Work-Life Balance Tips:

1. Create blocks of time for work, family and self. If both you and your partner are working, have a conversation and coordinate ?together time?, ?alone time? and ?work time?.? Sometimes it is just a matter of having a conversation and making plans, but most people are have more success by writing it in their calendars.

2. Protect your ?non-work? time. During your family or alone time, don’t work! It is better to spend only an hour with your kids, but to be fully present to them, no phone, no emails, than to spend several distracted hours with them. Same goes for your alone time. Taking a walk by yourself or with a pet? How about enjoying the moment and leaving the phone at home?

3. Do one thing at a time. The result of doing a million things at the same time is stress, low productivity, over-exhaustion and burnout. If there are more than 3 documents open on your computer screen, that’s a red flag. Work on one task at a time and when you’re done move to the next one. If you are a full time mom and you also have your own business, wear your ?mom’s hat? for a block of time, and concentrate fully on your responsibility as a mother. This way, you won’t feel guilty when you switch to your ?career hat? and devote yourself to that. Trying to do both at once creates unnecessary tension.

4. Identify and cut your time wasters. Once you’re clear with your priorities and your blocks of time, you have to make sure you don’t fill it up with activities that are time consuming and unproductive. I’m not talking about fun activities, because those are important, but I am talking about activities you get addicted to and spend too much time on without much reward Examples are: computer games, facebook, watching TV for a long time, etc.

5. Make dates with your kids. If you have children, plan individual time to spend with each one of them, undistracted. Whether it’s a walk in nature, picnic in the park or baking together, this quality time will means so much both for them and for you.

6. Make dates with your partner. If you are married on in a relationship, the best way to make your relationships a priority when you are busy with work is to plan at least one evening a week where you’re both devoted to being with one another. Don’t expect your partner to initiate it. Do it yourself. Show them that they are important for you and your time together is valuable, no matter how busy you are.

7. Make dates with yourself. When we talk about work-life balance, alone time is the first thing most people give up. The irony is that when you spend time with yourself it energizes you, makes you centered and creates a sense of inner peace. You really need it in order to live a balanced. It doesn’t happen by itself. Plan ahead and schedule time in your calendar.

To support you, we have created a FREE ?Improving Your Work-Life Balance? Guide. First you will evaluate areas that need improvement and then you’ll prioritize and take steps to improve.

Download the free guide by clicking on this link

“Improving Your Work-Life Balance? Free Guide

Please share with us which of my 7 tips was your favorite.