Your boss is so impressed with your work on Project A that she wants you to add Project B to your workload.
Your kids have a slew of activities after school that require a delicate balance of scheduling responsibilities with your spouse.
Oh, and there’s still just 24 hours in a day.
Balancing career and family is always a major challenge, but it can be more achievable if you adopt practical strategies for honoring one’s home life while building a career.
Here are some strategies to help you get started:
Use the same calendar to record family and work appointments
By using the same calendar to record work and family meetings, you avoid double-booking yourself.
Canceling or rescheduling a meeting with a client or a supervisor should not be taken lightly. The same goes for postponing a family bike ride or canceling a child’s orthodontist appointment.
It’s far better to go through with an appointment than to kick the can ahead into the unknown future. People don’t like broken appointments, either — the consequent loss of trust may be hard to rebuild.
Do not casually forsake a family tradition to work late
Sometimes, work can easily threaten to flow into the evening, a time that usually falls under the category of family time. Fight this temptation with all your being.
For example, if on Wednesday nights you watch your favorite TV show with your teenagers, or if it is your day to bathe the baby and put her to bed, then you must be home to fulfill these duties.
If family time and work responsibilities are starting to collide frequently, sit down and think of a long-term plan. Perhaps your family needs to readjust family traditions or you need to renegotiate your workload with your boss.
Eat a cheerful family meal together once a day
The relatively brief time of a meal can be a wonderful opportunity for bonding and for learning about each other. Make your mealtimes chatty, loving, and nutrition filled. Parents can find out what their children are doing as well as monitor the moods of everyone at the table.
Children can also learn what it means to be an adult from the conversations that parents have with each other about the day-to-day business of running a household.
Be sure to get you and your children into the habit of eating properly, and remember that cooking with the family is a great way to spend time together.
Exercise with your family and coworkers
With a career and a family, you may be tempted to stop exercising. Avoid this temptation by using exercise to bond with important people at work and at home.
For instance, jog with the people in your work group after lunch, and feel free to talk shop in the locker room. If you swim in the morning, your 10-year-old son might be game to join you before you take him to school and yourself to work. If the weekdays are too packed, exercise on the weekends.
The bottom line
These tips have in common the necessity of building strong relationships with your family and your work colleagues. To succeed, you must take the time and mental space to prioritize. You must also communicate to everyone affected by your decisions.
After all, you are not the center of the universe, but rather a strong presence in many universes. Consequently, you must respect the needs of others as much as your own while you climb the corporate ladder.
