Work-Life Balance Examples

The concept of "work-life balance" can be confusing, so I'm going to provide you with a few examples in this post. But before I do, there's a few things you need to know about what work-life balance actually is and isn't...

What work-life balance IS and ISN'T

Work-life balance IS different for everyone depending on how you want to spend your limited and precious time. It ISN'T a cookie cutter version of your life that someone else tells you to create. 

Work-life balance IS a state of mind PLUS a cultivating of your calendar. It ISN'T just a cultivating of your calendar. 

Work-life balance IS messy sometimes. It ISN'T a picture perfect version of yourself jet setting or spending time on a yacht like social media would have you believe. 

Work-life balance IS you being intentional about your time. It ISN'T you feeling out of control with your time or feeling like a victim to your circumstances. 

And finally...

Work-life balance IS possible for everyone. It ISN'T just for people making billions of dollars who can pay other people to take care of everything for them. 

Now that we got that out of the way, let's go into a few examples of work-life balance. 

Example 1: The ideal work day of a business owner with a young family

6:00am - Wake up. Eat breakfast with family. Get kids ready for the day and to school. Get self partly ready for the day.

8:30am - Exercise!

9:30am - Get self fully ready for the day.

10:30am - Get to work.

12:30pm - Eat lunch.

1:00pm - Get to work. 

3:30pm - Shut down computer. Get kids off the bus. Hang out with kids. 

4:30pm - Start cooking dinner leisurely. 

5:30pm - Eat dinner with family. 

6:00pm - Clean up kitchen and talk to spouse while kids are playing in another room.

6:30pm - Hang out with the family. 

7:30pm - Bedtime routine with the kids. Get them to sleep. 

8:00pm - Hang out with spouse.

9:30pm - Go to bed. Fall asleep by 10:00pm.

Example 2: The ideal non-work day of a business owner with a young family

7:00am - Wake up. Eat breakfast with family. Get everyone ready for the day.

9:30am - Get out of the house and do something fun as a family that you'll all enjoy. 

12:30pm - Eat lunch.

1:00pm - If you have little kids, get them down for a nap. If you have slightly older kids, set them up with an activity. Hang out by yourself or with your spouse or catch up on boring adult responsibilities like cleaning. 

3:30pm - Hang out with family. 

4:30pm - Start cooking dinner leisurely. 

5:30pm - Eat dinner with family. 

6:00pm - Clean up kitchen and talk to spouse while kids are playing in another room.

6:30pm - Hang out with the family. 

7:30pm - Bedtime routine with the kids. Get them to sleep. 

8:00pm - Hang out with spouse.

9:30pm - Go to bed. Fall asleep by 10:00pm.

Considerations to help you achieve work-life balance

After reading those examples, you can probably see why work-life balance is so different for everyone depending on how you prefer spending your time. When you think about YOUR ideal work day and YOUR ideal non-work day, and what work-life balance means to you, there's a few things to take into consideration. 

In your personal life...

• Health: If your health is important to you, what are the specific things you want to do to prioritize your health? Do you like walking on a treadmill, or lifting weights, or riding your bike, or swimming, or eating a home cooked meal at least 3 times per week or something else? Decide what you want to do for your health and incorporate that into your life as a non-negotiable. 
• Money: If you want to pay off your debt, start saving more money, and build wealth for your family, what are the specific things you want to do to get on track with your money? Do you want to create a budget, or debt repayment plan, or plan for wealth building? Decide what you want to do for your money and get started with it today.
• Relationships: If you want to create a deeper connection with other people in your life, like your spouse, what do you want to do to prioritize your relationship with your spouse? Do you want to hang out a few times per week after the kids go to bed, or go on weekly dates together, or plan a weekend getaway, or something else? Decide what you want to do to strengthen your connection with your spouse and make it happen.
• Personal Development and Fun: If you want to have more fun in your life, instead of doing everything for everyone else, what are the specific things you want to do to prioritize yourself and have more fun in your life? Do you want to get your hair or nails done regularly, or get a massage, or make plans to meet up with your friends, or hit a few golf balls at the driving range, or something else? Decide what you want to do to have more fun and put it on your calendar. 
• Boring Adult Responsibilities: If you feel like house cleaning and all those other boring adult responsibilities are weighing you down, what are the specific things you want to do to get control of your time when it comes to these things? Do you want to hire a cleaning service, or reduce your expectations and the amount of time you spend doing these things, or teach your kids to do some of this stuff (depending on their ages), or work on your mindset about doing these things, or something else? Decide how you want to handle all those boring adult responsibilities we all have and don't let yourself stress about it anymore. 

In your business life...

• Marketing: If you're spending a lot of time doing organic marketing on social media, and you're successful with it, but you want to spend less of your time on the platforms, what are the specific things you can do to make that happen? Do you want to hire a Social Media Manager, or run paid ads, or hire an SEO Consultant, or something else? Decide what you want your marketing strategy to be and start taking actions towards that. 
• Sales: If you're 100% booked with clients, and you don't have any extra time for free consultations or discovery calls, what do you want to change in your sales process that frees your time up, but also allows you to maintain a consistent number of active clients? Do you want to add extra time to your calendar for free consultations or discovery calls, or start a waitlist from your website, or prerecord videos and direct to a signup or waitlist form, or something else? Decide what you want your sales process to look like and create it.
• Product or Service and Client Delivery: If you love spending private 1:1 time with your clients, but you've noticed how often you say the same thing to all of your clients, what do you want to change that is more efficient and doesn't have you repeating yourself frequently? Do you want to create an online course that you can provide as a bonus to all your private 1:1 clients, or create an online course that you can package and sell with a small or large group program, or something else? Decide what you want your product or service and client delivery to be and get started creating it.
• Operations: If you are spending a lot of time on administrative work or marketing work, and you want to reduce your efforts in that area of your business, so you can focus on your client delivery, what can you do to make that happen? Do you want to hire a Virtual Assistant or Social Media Manager, or simplify your business operations, or automate a portion of it, or something else? Decide what you want to do with your business operations so you're spending less time there and make it happen.

Get the support you need to achieve work-life balance

You can achieve work-life balance on your own, I completely believe that, but I can help you get there faster in my programs.

I invite you to learn more.