With the demands of your job and the responsibilities you shoulder for family, friends, and others, do you ever wonder how you can create work/life balance? It is possible if you look more closely at six specific areas of your life and then set goals for each one of them. In this way, you are addressing all aspects of life, not just what demands the most time and attention.
These six topics are called “arenas” in the Six Life Arenas model developed by Richard Johnson, founder of Retirement Options. Exploring each topic is a wonderful way to get greater perspective on the current balance (or lack of balance) in your life. Because you can start immediately, it is also an effective way to create work/life balance for the present and for your retirement years.
Reflect on the following arenas:
• Family and friends – Nurture family, friend, and collegial relationships. As much as you are able, have dinners together, play board games, and listen to life’s struggles with compassion and life’s wins with celebration. Support your loved ones and share in their lives. Do repairing of relationships where necessary.
• Financial concerns – Explore your financial circumstances, attitudes, and values that affect the financial decisions that you have made and are making now. Make corrections where necessary and keep communication open with your partner, financial planner, and your estate attorney.
• Fun and relaxation – Use your freedom from work and work responsibilities to do nothing with your time except what you want to do. Take a break from your work/retirement routine. Relax, watch the ocean, play with your grandchildren, play tennis, go boating, or bird watch.
• Personal growth – Seek self-improvement and self-awareness personally, intellectually, and socially. This is a time to explore and develop your interests, talents, skills, and gifts. It’s about life purpose and how you can find life meaning, maintain curiosity, and pursue lifelong learning
• Self-care – Nurture your body daily with healthy food, exercise, and health care visits to your family doctor. Maintain daily protocols for any chronic illness or condition you have. Nurture your psyche with self-care activities that feed you emotionally, socially, and physically.
• Work – Allow your concept of work to change and consider volunteering, part-time work, consulting, or entrepreneurship. Consider volunteering or working part-time at something you’ve always wanted to do but couldn’t change your career course to do it. There is life after work and work after retirement. You get to choose a more balanced and relaxed pace.
As you seek to create work/life balance, it may be helpful to draw a circle and divide it into these six sections. Fill each slice of the pie with activities that will meet your needs for success and satisfaction. Where do you have an abundance of items listed? Where do you need to expand your repertoire?
You may also want to create a better balance between what you value and what you do. I addressed this in “Create a values-based lifestyle” and “Core values: define and align them.”
I have had to do this myself. Being very work-oriented, I needed to invest in fun, relaxation, and self-care. I am happy to say I have made progress and continue to do so despite the challenges of social distancing. What changes can you make right now to ensure that your life and your work will be more balanced? What would you like to do in the near future to create work/life balance that reflects your values?