Finding the balance in your life and career
With so many things to juggle – home, work, children, relationship – it’s not surprising if we can sometimes feel like we’re struggling to maintain balance in our lives.
As working mums it’s easy to find we’re giving so much to others, there’s not much left for ourselves. Life coach Helen Watts explains why taking care of the foundations of our life is so vital to our emotional wellbeing – and how you can do it.
The importance of good foundations in life
If you look at all your priorities, which of them weigh up, and which are seriously out of kilter? We all have foundations on which we base the rest of our lives. Now think about yours – your home, finance, children, significant others, health, spirituality, career and personal development. How are they right now?
Imagine trying to build a house on a messily-dug foundation, where certain parts have been given more care than others, or have been left higher than others. Where does that leave the structure being built on top of it all – other than tentative and unstable?
What happens when your foundations aren’t in balance
If your foundations aren’t in balance, the life that you’re building on them won’t be either. And yet it’s easy for us to overlook the importance of laying the right foundations. Sometimes we’re so busy trying to build our new career, or trying to prove to ourselves that we can hold down a part-time job and our volunteer work and our family, that it leaves us no time to enjoy time with our friends or our children.
Or maybe it’s the other way round – we’re so busy investing in our children that it feels like there’s part of us missing. Because, much as we love our kids, there feels like there should be something more to life. Coaching @ WWC would gladly be of help to guide you in balancing all aspects of your life.
How to find balance in your own life
Finding balance is all about making small steps towards the ideals we have, so that our foundations are more stable and more life-giving. Here are some pointers towards making those small changes:
- Consider which part of your foundation you most want to address.
- Spend a few minutes writing down where you ideally want this foundation to be.
- Brainstorm the easiest ways you could move towards that ideal.
- Choose one or two of those ways and set them as goals – positive things you will do at a certain time or on an on-going basis.
- Identify what might stop you achieving them and how you can navigate those obstacles.
- Share with a close friend what you intend to do and when and ask for accountability.
- GO FOR IT!
It really does sound like child’s play when you see it written down in steps like this (that doesn’t mean it’s easy!) but changes are so much easier to implement when you make a plan, write it down, and assign a time to a particular goal.
Little changes are all that are needed to spur us on to make more and bigger changes in both our life and career – I know for myself that when I see something is working, it’s a huge motivator to do more.
Start finding your own balance today
So what are you waiting for? If you’re struggling to find a balance in your life or work, it may be that you need to look at your foundations and make sure they’re giving you the support you need. And there’s never a better time to start than now!
Find out more about how Life coach Helen Watts empowers mums to live their dreams.
