Tips for Balancing Work and Home Life

I have had a boss who simply lived at work. He was there 12 hours and he was there after hours. He claimed he took a stack of work home with him as well. He gets home and goes to his computer room to answer emails while opening up a beer. However, even though he hears the baby crying, smells the food that she has prepared and hears the kids in the far distance playing a game in the living room-he doesn't engage. Why is this? Could a percentage of this scenario be you as well?

I am a person who takes her work seriously too. I used to be the one to mix my work and home life until my discussion with a previous mentor. My mentor said to me that nothing should replace your home. He said that he learned that the hard way after his first marriage. His first marriage he made all the mistakes of doing basically everything I've listed about my former boss above. He paid for it through divorce. Now he takes time to mentor people he comes across that place their work above their family as well. And now I'm going to pass this on to you.

I first learned that nothing is more important than my family. And if you're spiritual-nothing comes before family or God. And we all truly know this, but do we live it? It may be great to see your spouse as a go-getter at work in the beginning, but after awhile it gets pretty old and when you look back and try to reminisce about "the times" you will have far and few memories to remember. Look at your home like as you would the Hibiscus flower. The Hibiscus is delicate, pure, beautiful, and rare; when not taken care of, it will wilt and die. This is your home as well. Tend to it the way you would a garden and watch it flourish. If you have children, you have seen the child that goes and plays by themselves for hours and becomes somewhat reserved. Many times it's because they are used to being by themselves because everyone around them are too busy to notice them. Children will always require and demand our unconditional attention. And even if your child is acting out-don't take yourself away from them, they are probably telling you (in their own way) that they need your attention and you just haven't been there.

Get organized! I published an article here called "Home Business Work Burnout - Get a Grip!" I went into detail on how it helps to get yourself organized and ways to alleviate stress. You can get yourself organized in every aspect of your life if you have to-it doesn't just have to be at work. But if you need to schedule a vacation with your wife or take the kids out to a museum, schedule that time because all these moments in time with your family is actually building a foundation for a healthy home life. Getting organized may require you to put calls and emails on hold for an hour or so. Well-how will getting organized help you balance work and home life? It will place your mind at ease that everything will get accomplished so that you won't get burned out trying to do everything for everyone; this causes less anxiety and stress for yourself so that when you do go out with your family-you're giving all of yourself and not half of yourself worrying about other things. If you are worried about other things-it will show by you consistently looking down at your Blackberry or mobile phone. The schedule you will be creating will be a list of priorities; and hopefully on this schedule, your family will be put first.

Boy-have I made some foolish mistakes when it came to balancing work and home life. Save yourself some time and frustration by visiting my home business blog for advice, reviews, and some more advice on balancing work and familyf! - "Life is too short--so LIVE it then WRITE about it!" - Loren Jaslyn