How To Create Work-Life Balance During The Holidays

It seems we are always searching for work-life balance, more so around the holidays.

It’s hard to balance wanting to spend time with family and friends and at the same time trying to get everything done at work on a regular basis and the added pressure of holiday gatherings can make it even more difficult.

Here are some ways to create work-life balance during the holidays.

What is Work-Life Balance?

Work-Life Balance looks different for everyone and it’s very dependent on the type of life you want to live that makes you feel energized and happy.

Unfortunately, in the world we live in today, we need to work, but we also want to live. To do both, we have to have some balance so that one does not outweigh the other.

What is the importance of Work-Life Balance?

Having Work-Life Balance helps you:

• Avoid burnout by giving yourself more time to rest and recharge with the things that you enjoy.
• Create more time for family and friends to maintain important social and emotional bonds.
• Incorporate time for self-care to take care of all the things you currently put off that are important to your health and well-being.
• Having more time to do things that nourish your mind, body, and spirit.
• It can help you have fewer health issues by addressing the things above.

First, a couple of questions to ask yourself.

• What do I value right now that I want to give my time to?
• How do I want to spend my time during the holiday season outside of work? 
• How do I want to spend my time during the workouts for the holiday season? 
• What do I know that I need to change to create better boundaries right now?

These answers are going to be different for everyone. But, it’s important to ask yourself these questions because this is how you begin to identify what’s important to you and what you want to make sure to keep as a part of your days.

You’ve asked yourself what’s important to you and how you want to spend your time.

Next are some ways to create work-life balance during the holidays:

Prioritize creating work-life balance during the holidays.

• Prioritize what’s important to complete each day at work and each day for yourself. 
• Be sure to include the things that are important to you that you’ve already identified you want to include in your day.
  

Cut non-essential, non-important tasks and outsource, whenever possible. 

• Because you’ve already thought about what’s important to you and prioritized, it will be easier for you to identify what these tasks are for you. 
• By cutting non-essential and non-important tasks for the holiday session, you can structure your day to address the most important things and minimize the time you spent on non-essential tasks.

Setting Boundaries between Work and Personal Life.

• First, visualize what you want your work day to look like during this time and include the things that you have prioritized for that day.
• Set boundaries with people and projects that are not on that list (non-essential tasks) that you can push back to another day or time or that you can delegate.
• Set specific work hours and stick to them. If you have scheduled time off, take it and disconnect from work.

Schedule everything.

• This might seem simple or you may think you already do this, but it’s important to take a look at your schedule through the lens of what you’ve prioritized. 
• Knowing where your time is going can help you maintain boundaries and push back on unexpected requests.

Communicate & clarify.

• Share your schedule with your family and friends. 
• It’s important that everyone is aware of your availability. It will help you be honest about your bandwidth and where there’s any room for flexibility on work projects and personal time.
• When in doubt, over-communicate.

Don’t be afraid to unplug.

• Shutting off devices and creating a space for yourself for what is important to you allows you to fully immerse yourself in the joy of that experience.

Lastly, there’s no perfect work-life balance formula.

• Unfortunately, creating balance is not a one-and-done thing. Some days with throw a wrench in your plans and you will have to pivot. 
• It’s going to have to be a day-to-day balance of prioritizing what’s important to you that day and managing the specific stressors that are in your life.

By creating a work-life balance during the holidays you get to do what you want with your life. You get to be there for the people and things that are most important to you which brings value to your life. 

These boundaries and values you’re creating and implementing for yourself to create work-life balance during the holidays, don’t need to stop there. You can keep them up year-round to truly create the life you want. A life that adds value to each and every day and energizes you and allows you to continue to be the best version of yourself. 

Remember to give yourself kindness and compassion as you try to create a work-life balance during the holidays. You are human and you may not meet all of your expectations. By attempting to even do some of these things above you will have more time for what’s important to you this holiday season. 

If you want to connect with a therapist who specializes in Therapy for Entrepreneurs to help you find ways to create work-life balance during the holidays or at any time, contact us to schedule a free consultation!