Life is a sea-saw and it is very rightly observed that the ever balancing act to maintain equilibrium calls for some introspection. The most debatable topic persisting since ages is — which should get more importance? Sometimes the extreme imbalance causes lot of anxiety and stress at both the fronts hence it is pertinent to know the mantra of successful professional life backed with a healthy personal front for students.
The real task of balance takes place on a weekly and daily basis, even from hour to hour. Commonly cited pro-work factors include potential income, career continuity and advancement, workplace intellectual and social stimulation, enriched childcare social environment for kids, etc. Adverse factors include reduced time spent with family, fatigue, weekends dominated by domestic chores, chronic crisis coping, etc. Hence one should be very focussed as to achieve a perfect "sea-saw" euphoria. Few tips which will help reduce this stress!
Tips to attain balance between work-life :
Identify your support system: Find out who can be counted on to help when help is needed? Categorise people and write the names of people who could be counted on if necessary. Then Identify at least two support system of your life who can provide you neutral guidance at the time of ambiguity in life.
Be realistic: One should not set expectations that can't be achieved. For example one should question our mind — Is 20 hours of study realistic pattern? Always set practical boundaries for your daily to do list to make it a success.
Plan ahead: Spending time working away from home means that there will be fewer hours available in the day to accomplish the same number of jobs around the house.
Don’t procrastinate: Delaying things may lead to piling of more and more work in the end. Another disadvantage of procrastination is that it only keeps adding more stress at the top of daily work load.
Prioritise responsibilities at work: One should make a mental chart of tasks of high importance, medium importance and least importance. This will help cope up with the essentials first as to reduce mental stress of laying off things
Try not to bring work at home: Unless in extreme cases like board meetings or crisis at work one should never carry work at home. This acts like de-catalysis in family life.Hence one should try best to achieve official goals at work only.
Stick to your schedule, do not divert: The reason for that is that when you plan things, then you always stay informed. It means you know when you will be able to finish a particular assignment or college project. You can always include breaks or a small outing as part of the schedule. It will work as an incentive to stick to schedule, knowing when to do what; otherwise, you may end up with a pile up of work, including new stuff that you were not aware of because you didn't schedule. Write things up, make notes, plan well, and you will find it much easier to balance your life between study, work, and personal life.
Manage stress levels: Stress is an inevitable part of being a student and a worker, so learn how to keep it in check. Take regular breaks, get enough sleep, stay physically active, get out into the great outdoors and let yourself enjoy some of what life has to offer.
Watch for signs of burn-out: If your job performance or academic results begins to flag, take action. Falling asleep in class, drinking excessive amounts of caffeine, losing interest in your job or studies or becoming irritable are warning signs. A balance is easier to achieve when you make a sincere effort towards it.
The writer is Pallavi Prakash, Motivational Speaker and Founder-CEO of KnowledgeSeed Learning Centre
