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Blur The Lines Between Work & Play!
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In today’s 24/7 world striking a healthy balance between work and play can be really difficult to do. You have all of the obligations of work plus those necessary tasks that must be done to keep a home in working order. Many times it seems as though there are just not enough hours in the day and time for play and relaxation can be really hard to come by.
With a little planning and some simple changes you may be able to make more time for the things that you want to do instead of always being focused on the things that you have to do. Striking the right balance between work and play is important not only for your physical and mental health, but also for the health of your relationships.
Make a list. If you don’t already, make a list of all of the things that need to be done for the day, and preferably even for the week. Prioritize the items on your to do list in order of importance, and if you can by the length of time it will take to complete them. Once you have your list made you can begin to schedule your time. You should try to schedule your more important time consuming tasks at the point of the day where you are the most motivated and have the most energy.
Make a schedule and keep it. When you are making a schedule of your time make sure to include time for yourself. If you don’t actually block out “me time” there is a very good chance that you won’t take it. Take this approach with your relationships as well; coordinate with your spouse or significant other and other family members to make sure you all have time to spend together. By scheduling your time you can also see where you are losing time. Seeing where your lost time goes can help you to become more efficient.
Learn to say “no”. Learning to say no may be the single most difficult skill that some people ever learn. You want to be the nice guy (or girl) who helps out their friends, co-workers, and assorted others but by saying yes to every task or obligation that comes up you are cheating yourself out of time. If you honestly, don’t have the time or interest to help out then just say no!
Organize and de-clutter. The more organized your home and office are the more efficiently you can complete your tasks. Being organized also helps to eliminate time spent looking for things that you need. Particularly in your office having things organized and easily accessible prevents you from getting distracted by another task.
As you can see, none of these changes are hard to make although for some people they may take a little time to become a habit. All of these simple changes can help you to be more efficient in both your work and your home life. Once you have become more efficient you will see that now you have more time available to do what you want to do instead of only having time for what you have to do.