How To Balance Your Work And Your Life With Ease

Too often we become caught up in the doing of every day life and we forget that it is meant to be enjoyed. Establishing a system for ease will help you to put the fun back into your life. The following are six systems will help you identify and create your ideal career and live your ideal life with a lot more energy and productivity on a daily basis.

1) Establish a System for Empowerment

If you are not happy with any aspect of your current life, you must begin by identifying and fulfilling your lifes purpose. The key is to create a purpose for your life that is so inspiring, so compelling that you feel empowered to fulfil it. Once you have identified your purpose ask yourself how you can turn this into your ideal career.

To identify your life purpose, ask yourself the following questions: When you were a child, what dreams did you have for your future? What did you want to be, do and have when you grew up?

What would you be, do and have if you had all the time and money you ever needed and you had to use your talents to give back to society?

2) Establish a System for Efficiency

Your time is precious. How you choose to spend your time is entirely up to you but wouldnt you prefer to spend it on things that are meaningful to you, things that fill you with satisfaction, that add value to your life, that make you feel fulfilled? If time were money, would you be spending it on some of the things that you currently do every day or would you invest it more wisely?

The keys to getting greater results from your time is effective planning and knowing how to prioritise. By identifying your real priorities you will achieve more. Deliberately focus 80 percent of your energy on the tasks that are most important to you and the other 20 percent on the urgent, less important tasks.

3) Establish a System for Elimination

A system for elimination gives you the means to remove toxins and unnecessary clutter from your life. Toxins can be mental, emotional, spiritual or physical and often come in the form of addictions and unfinished business. Unfinished business can be anything that you have started but not finished; this traps energy in the past. If you do not have 100 percent of your energy available in the present you will not be as productive as you can possibly be.

Some simple tips to help you remove toxins from your life include:

Write a list of all your unfinished business and complete all of it within the next seven days. Remove toxic thoughts, feelings, beliefs and behaviours from your mind by focusing on what you do want in your life, not on what you do not want. De-clutter and simplify your life, tidy your house, car, garage, wardrobe, office and so on. Eliminate any old energy that no longer serves you.

Establish a System for Exercise

Performing some form of exercise on a daily basis will provide you with so many benefits, both physically and psychologically. Physically, exercise improves your aerobic and anaerobic fitness; muscle strength; power, flexibility and tone; energy levels; sex drive; sleep quality and insulin levels (which helps to reduce sugar cravings). Psychologically, exercise improves your confidence and self-esteem, feelings of well-being and stress levels.

It is important to incorporate a balanced combination of different types of exercise into your routine, including:

Resistance exercise, such as weight training, which increases your muscle strength and tone as well as your bone density (to reduce your risk of injury). Cardio vascular exercise, such as aerobic or anaerobic training, to increase the efficiency of your heart and lungs and reduce your body fat levels. Flexibility exercise, such as regular stretching to improve your posture, to help you to recover from exercise faster and to reduce your risk of injury.

An effective exercise program should be developed around three to six thirty minute sessions per week. For example:

Day Exercise Type Program Type Monday, Weights:Chest, Shoulders, Triceps Tuesday, Cardio:Intervals and Stretch Wednesday, Weights:Legs and Abdominals Thursday, Cardio:Intervals and Stretch Friday, Weights Back and Biceps: Saturday, Resistance/Flexibility:Abdominals and Stretch Sunday, Rest/Reward day

Did you know there are 336 half hours in a week?

Only six of those half hours are required to get the best possible results from your exercise, thats only 1.75 percent of your week!

5) Establish a System for Eating

To gain the maximum benefit from any exercise program combine your physical activity with high quality nutrition. The following is one system that works for many people:

Eat 5-6 smaller meals per day.

Two-thirds of your plate should be plant (or natural) food.

Incorporate six to eight servings of different fruits and vegetables into your menu every day.

Avoid eating carbohydrates after 6pm.

Make sure you eat breakfast every day.

The ideal breakfast should be high in fibre and low in sugar, for example a low-sugar cereal, porridge or multi-grain toast.

Try to consume low Glycemic Index (GI) foods.

Reduce your caffeine, alcohol and junk food intake.

Drink 2-3 litres of purified water per day

Prepare your weekly menu plan and shopping list before you go shopping and never shop on an empty stomach.

Have a day off each week and eat whatever you like!

6) Establish a System for Evaluation

Evaluation is perhaps the most overlooked aspect of any work / life balance process. Constant feedback keeps you on track to achieve your goals, without it you may never arrive at your destination. Evaluate your progress daily and weekly to keep you accountable for the direction you have chosen and ensure that you are evolving on a daily basis.

If you implement even one of the systems above you are well on your way towards achieving an excellent balance between your work and your life. Congratulations, I hope you enjoy meeting the new, more balanced you.