START Planner: How to Achieve Balance in Your Life

Finding a healthy balance in life can be tricky. Everybody wants to know how to excel at their career without neglecting their family and personal life, but only a relatively small number of people actually succeed. Why? It turns out that there are a number of key principles that can help you maintain a healthy work life balance. Once you've mastered these principles, you'll have an easier time managing all your responsibilities without neglecting any of them or getting too stressed out. Here are six ways you can start balancing your life today.

Think about what balance means to you.

Ask yourself what your ideal life looks like. Do you want to leave your work at the office every day and just focus on your family when you come home? Do you want to work fewer hours so you feel less exhausted on the weekends? Define the kind of routine you want, so you have a target to aim at.

Set goals for yourself.

After you figure out how you want to improve your life, get specific. Come up with one or two concrete changes you want to make, such as spending an hour with your spouse every evening or saying no to working overtime on the weekends. Then think about how you'll make it happen. For instance, you might decide to give up your TV habit to spend more time with your spouse, or you might practice telling your boss you can't work this Saturday.

Be willing to say no.

Boundaries are the most essential component of maintaining a healthy work life balance. If you want to have time for all the important parts of your life, you've got to be willing to say no to the nonessential parts. This might mean turning down invitations or new projects when you're already booked, or it could mean cutting out time-wasting habits in favor of doing more meaningful things. Other people might test your boundaries, so be ready to defend them after you establish them.

Prioritize your life.

Make time for the most important things in your life by doing them first. Leave the nonessentials for later. If you find that you've got too many nonessential tasks vying for your attention, consider cutting back. Revisit your boundaries and see if you need to adjust them to give yourself more personal time. Whatever you do, don't tell yourself that you'll spend time with your family or work on your most important projects "later," or it might never happen.

Be realistic about what you can do.

If you're accustomed to trying to be a superhero, this can be a hard truth to swallow, but the reality is that no one can do it all. Know what you can do in a day without burning yourself out, and don't expect yourself to do more than that. Fitting all your biggest priorities into the day might mean that some smaller tasks go undone, and that's okay.

Know that maintaining balance is an ongoing process.

You'll get better at maintaining balance in your life as you practice it more, but the process may never become easy. New obligations will come up, new circumstances will arise, and you'll have to find ways to adapt to them. Achieving balance is a way of life, not a one-time event, so plan to adjust your lifestyle for the long haul.

Balancing your work life and your personal life might make you feel like a juggler trying to keep too many balls in the air, but if you're willing to prioritize and simplify your life, it is possible. Start implementing these ideas today, and you might find you have more time for all the things that matter to you, both in the office and at home.