3 Ways to Improve your Work-Life Balance

Introduction

In our day-to-day where we find ourselves juggling the demands of work, family, and personal pursuits, one thing stands out as a universal desire for women in the workplace: Flexibility. Flexibility is about more than convenience. It represents our level of wellbeing and work-life balance. After my conversations with clients and women across sectors, one key theme stands out – the desire for more flexibility in their lives.

Having more flexibility in our lives lends itself to a greater sense of harmony between our professional responsibilities and personal fulfilment. A

recent Gallup article sheds light on this, noting that 60% of female job seekers prioritise roles offering greater work-life balance and wellbeing. This speaks volumes about the role flexibility plays in shaping career decisions and life trajectories, especially for women, who tend to be the primary carers in families and the default parent who responds to family emergencies.

Flexibility vs. Money

The interesting (but not so surprising) thing is that flexibility often takes precedence over financial incentives such as a pay increase. This suggests that the freedom to navigate life on our own terms is more important than the financial gain we could otherwise have.

The desire for flexibility comes up different ways and these are some that have come out of my conversations with clients and other working women:

·       The flexibility to attend to caring responsibilities without sacrificing career aspirations.

·       The flexibility to work from different locations, to fit in with family routines.

·       The flexibility to pursue hobbies and interests outside of work.

·       The flexibility to have creative agency and ownership over work.

What are the challenges in achieving work-life balance?

Despite many women wanting to build more flexibility into their lifestyles to have better work-life balance, they find themselves struggling to achieve it. I’ve seen two main reasons for this. The first is that some employers that don’t support this need for flexibility. For example, they may expect employees to be in the office 5 days a week again despite many workplaces now operating successfully under hybrid working practices. The second reason relates to the individual and is a lack of clarity on what a flexible lifestyle looks like and the steps needed to achieve it.

But here's the good news – building more flexibility into your life starts with a single step. You don’t need to make progress in leaps and bounds to build your dream life. It’s about consistently taking small, meaningful steps, which will get you the biggest results.

3 actionable strategies to help you get started

1. Define Your Vision: Start by gaining clarity on what a flexible life means to you. Imagine the tangible differences it would bring and the improvement to your quality of life. By getting clear on what your dream life looks like, you are laying the groundwork for meaningful and sustainable change.
   

2. Streamline Your Priorities: Take a critical look at your day-to-day commitments and identify tasks that add little or no value to your overall goals. Delegate or get rid of these tasks to free up your time and headspace, allowing you to focus on the things matter. You can assign tasks using the 80/20 rule. 20% being the most important tasks you need to work on and the 80% which may add little or no value.
   

3. Reflect on Past Examples: Recall instances in your life when you experienced a sense of freedom and flexibility. Whether it was during a career break, a travel adventure or a creative pursuit, reflect on what you did to be able to have these experiences and then consider how you can recreate similar experiences.

Conclusion

Developing a clear vision of your dream life and reflecting on where you’re at right now will help you build an effective strategy to take intentional action, building more flexibility and harmony into your life. You deserve it and by choosing to take action now, you’re also setting an example for other women who would love to achieve a healthy life balance.