CAREER RESOURCES

Career Resources

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5 Strategies for Achieving Work-life Balance: A GetSmarter Coach Perspective

GetSmarter Performance Coach, Abigail Hendricks, shares her experience of balancing her job and personal life and overcoming the stress that often follows when the two become too intertwined. 

The past year was a great learning curve for me. I recently became a mother and started as a Performance Coach at GetSmarter. 

I’ve learnt with time, that striking a balance between work, studies and home life, is essential to my functioning and happiness.

Many of the students I coach on short courses, also find themselves in this stressed-out space. Because of this, I decided to find simple solutions, for myself and the students, to achieve that much-needed balance. 

Looking back, 5 key steps helped me create a more balanced life. But before I could focus on them I had to ask myself three important questions.

·         What challenges am I currently facing?
·         What are my goals for work, studies and personal life?
·         What is important to me at this time in my life?

Once I had nailed down the answers to those questions, I implemented these 5 strategies into my routine: 

Strategy #1: Plan your week

The first step I took was creating an action plan. I used my Sunday evenings to map out all the important tasks for the week ahead. I reviewed which tasks would require most of my time for the week based on their deadlines and the number of hours each task would take.

I also included a dedicated day to spend an evening with my family, without any work interruptions or studies or cell phones. 

Tip: Try and slot in time for yourself too. Whether it’s  15 minutes or an hour long. Time alone has been proven to decrease stress and help reboot your mind. 

Strategy #2: Create a more efficient workflow

I made a terrible habit of taking work home with me, which stole away time I could’ve spent studying, with my family or doing a fun activity with friends.

As a way to prevent this from happening, I decided to organise my work environment so I wouldn’t ever have to take work home with me again.

This required creating an efficient workflow: scheduling all important tasks and meetings in my Google Calendar; and turning big project goals into smaller, actionable steps. 

Milestones make it clear which steps need to be taken to achieve a goal. Once  I reached a milestone, I would reward myself which continued to motivate me. 

Strategy #3: Surround yourself with a support system

Support.
A simple word, but an essential part of my life.

Research shows that having a support system can greatly impact day-to-day life. I found that engaging and interacting with friends, family and colleagues reduced the impact of stress by allowing me to vent when needed, offering solutions to problems, and encouraging me to look at my stress from a different perspective. 

A big part of my job is providing support to students on the short courses. Simple interactions such as asking about their day or how work has been can reduce their feelings of being overwhelmed. 

Strategy #4: Identify your stressors

There are two types of stressors:

Internal: These often come from your personal goals, desires and perceptions.

External: Stressors that come from outside of us, which include our physical environment and surroundings.

Many external stressors are outside our bounds of control. It is essential to focus on how you respond to stress. A key learning for me was maintaining a positive mindset.

Tip: Reduce your negative thoughts by focusing less on the problem, and instead, brainstorm ways to solve it.  

Strategy #5: Healthy living

There are many benefits to healthy living and I am only now starting to learn about them. It’s easy to become a late night snacker when you’re feeling stressed.

Studies have shown that exercise can greatly reduce the impact of stress on the body and boosts the immune system - which means less sick days.

I made some small changes in this area of my life such as taking a walk with my daughter around the park. 

Action: Make time in your schedule to take a walk, a short run or replace that burger with a fresh salad. It’s not easy but definitely worth it.

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