The Work-Life Balance Sheet A practical tool to help you find more time for you, without feeling guilty. katrinaboyle.com
Here s why this book will help you to get more time for you If you don t have a system for recognising how you are focusing your time and balancing the focus on you versus other things in your life, you might not do anything for you which means you re feeling exhausted and not satisfied with life. The Work-Life Balance Sheet This e-book has 2 important things. 1. 4 Good reasons to put yourself on your priority list 2. The Work-Life Balance Exercise Hi! I m Katrina Boyle. I empower individuals to bring about transformational change - at work and in their personal lives. This simple guide will help you prioritise your time so there is more time in everyday for YOU. As a result you will feel more energised and satisfied with your life. People who use this approach get time for themselves, are more energised and feel more satisfied with life. The Work-Life Balance Sheet will help you find more time for you, without feeling guilty. Here are the 2 steps you ll need to get you on the priority list. 4 Good Reasons The Work-Life Balance Exercise 1. Feel More Energised 1. Review Current Waking Hours 2. You Before Others 2. Consider the Results 3. Feel No Resentment 3. Determine Desired Allocation of Hours 4. Role Model To Others 4. Set a Goal Get YOU on the priority list 2
4 Good Reasons Whenever we travel on planes, we hear the safety message that says In the event of an emergency an oxygen mask will automatically appear in front of you. To start the flow of oxygen, pull the mask towards you. Place it firmly over your nose and mouth, secure the elastic band behind your head, and breathe normally. If you are travelling with a child or someone who requires assistance, secure your mask on first, and then assist the other person. Keep your mask on until a crew member advises you to remove it. When I first heard this message my instinctive response was that I would place the oxygen mask on my children first and leave myself till last. As a Mother, save the children would be my natural instinct. Yet if I think about it rationally it makes perfect sense. If I don t look after myself first, then I might not be able to look after them, if I can t breathe when there is no air on board the plane! And how are they going to look after themselves if I m not there. Oh dear, this thought is so much more painful. These thoughts make me realise the airline is giving us such good advice, which we can also apply to times when we are not flying. Why do we often place ourselves at the bottom of the order of people to look after? Sometimes we are not on the list at all. If we do not look after ourselves first, we are no good to anyone including the people we love and most importantly - ourselves. How often do you get to the end of the week and the things left on your to-do-list are the things that you wanted to do for YOU? It is time to make YOU a priority in your life. On the following page are 4 good reasons to put yourself on the priority list: 3
REASON 1: FEEL MORE ENERGISED REASON 2: YOU BEFORE OTHERS If you make yourself a priority, then you will be energised to give to other people. Making time for you is not selfish, it s self-care. People who are important to you will still be a priority for you, they will just come after you. They will admire your commitment to you. Your demonstration to them that you care about yourself will impress them. For you this might mean that instead of saying I don t have any time to exercise, you take 10 minutes at lunch to go for a walk, rather than sitting at your desk and eating your lunch. Ask the kids to make their own lunches so you can spend an extra five minutes in the shower. Organise for your partner to pick-up the kids from school one afternoon a fortnight, so that you can book yourself in for a massage. Reward the kids for looking after themselves, so that you can have a 30 minute cat-nap or lay down and read a book. Start with small changes - you will be amazed how good it feels. Because you are taking the time to do what is important to you, you will feel more energised. You will be able to do even more for them or do what you have always done more easily, as you will feel more alive doing it. REASON 3: FEEL NO RESENTMENT REASON 4: ROLE MODEL TO OTHERS You will feel no resentment and anger towards those people who you normally put before you. By caring for yourself you provide an example to others. Often when we are giving up so much for others and not giving back to ourselves, we start to feel resentment or anger towards those people. This is because we are doing so much for them, and not getting back what we are putting in. If we prioritise ourselves, then we give back to ourselves first, so we can feel like what we give to them is more even. I like to refer to this as an equal exchange of energy! Energy in and energy out - they need to be equal or just like the federal budget, there s a deficit! When you decide to add YOU to priority list, people will see how alive you are as a result, you will inspire others to want to follow. This might be your partner, friend, work colleague or one of your children. They need someone to show them the way, and YOU can be that person. 4
The Work-Life Balance Exercise Are you sold on the idea yet? Well if you are, take 10 minutes to complete The Life Balance Exercise, to assess how you currently spend your time in an average week as a percentage of waking hours. 10 minutes is all it takes. Surely you can prioritise yourself just for that small amount of time! Follow these simple steps: 1. Review Current Waking Hours Use the table on the following page to split your CURRENT waking hours. Split the time between Me, Family, Work, Friends. If you prefer to split your time another way, then do that. The outcome that you want to get to is that you understand where you are spending your time and in particular how much time is allocated just for YOU. 2. Consider The Results Do the calculations, are you happy with the results? If you now realise that you are not doing much just for you, ask yourself, am I happy with that? What can I do that is just for me to make me happy and refreshed each week or each day? 3. Determine Desired Allocation of Hours Use the same table to highlight your DESIRED split of waking hours - what would you like it to be? Make a note of how you want to split your time between Me, Family, Work and Friends. 4. Set a goal to get YOU on the priority list. Finish the activity by setting a goal for what you want your time to be and see what ways you can increase that time for you, by reducing what you do for others. Make sure you prioritise that time for you! 5
The Work-Life Balance table: Use the space below to write your goal to get YOU on the priority list. ME FAMILY WORK If you want to talk with me about how I can help you achieve your goals, book in for a FREE 10-minute Coach Call Today! FRIENDS Click Here to Book A Time In My Calendar 6