It was Woody Allen who said: 'Most of the time I don't have much fun. The rest of the time I don't have any fun at all.'
These days career success means getting our lives in balance so that we use our time in ways that are important for us. All too often work seems to take over a disproportionate amount of time, with the result that we don't have as much fun as we would like, our family life suffers and we have little time for relaxation and physical exercise.
The paradox is that, when work dominates the horizon to an overwhelming extent, we are probably being neither as efficient nor as effective as we would be with a more organised lifestyle.
Where does the time go?
Very few people have a true picture of how they spend their time. Many of us think we know, but in reality our memory of what we have done and for how long we did it is often wildly inaccurate. But without a reasonable idea of where your time is going, it's difficult to see where you can make changes and improvements.
The best way to find out what happens to your valuable time is to keep a log for a week. Note what you did each day and how long each activity lasted. Many people think this is going to be very tedious and therefore never actually get round to doing it, which is a pity because without one it's hard to be realistic about how you spend your time – and anyway it's not nearly so boring once you have made a start.
When you have been keeping your log for a few days, think about where your time went and what you want to do to change things. Are you investing your time in areas that benefit you, that help you to move your life forward? Do you feel that you spend enough time with your partner or family? Do you make time during the week for leisure or physical exercise? The answers to these questions will help you make some decisions about how to get your life more in balance.
We all have goals, even though we're not always conscious of them. However, we are not going to get far with goals such as 'to pay the bills', 'to make ends meet', 'to survive' or 'to wait for something to come along'. The times when we really move forward are when we have more challenging and inspirational goals in view: 'to pass my driving test', 'to go on holiday', 'to look for a new job', 'to move house' or 'to develop expertise in Dreamweaver and Flash '.
You can balance your life by setting clear goals for each area within it. What happens then is that you start to apply your motivation, your resources and your time to achieving what you want, both in your career and in your life outside work.
Top tips
People who have learned to get their lives in balance say that they have made astonishing improvements by using just one or two simple techniques. Here are some steps other people have taken to overcome their problems.
Set aside some uninterrupted thinking and planning time each day. Use this to review progress towards your goals and to write 'to do' lists that include some of the tasks which will get you a bit closer to them. This will help to make sure you spend at least part of each day working on your personal priorities.
Keep a clear desk. People who are bogged down in a clutter of paperwork are not able to think clearly, and many aspects of their lives suffer as a result. Taking a ruthless attitude to all those papers – filing them, putting them away or throwing them in the bin – will create a calm, clear space in your mind.
Make better use of down time - such as when you are sitting in a traffic jam, for example. Can you use this time to listen to an inspiring tape? Can you catch up with a backlog of routine paperwork while you are waiting for a doctor's appointment?
Saying no. If there are things that you do that haven't got a high value in terms of your own goals, try to say 'no' in future, with a helpful suggestion and a reason. 'Sorry, I can't do that for you now because I'm finishing this report for tomorrow's meeting. I could try and make time tomorrow if it's urgent.'
Chunking down and chunking up. If you've got a big project to tackle, break it down into small tasks. When you have lots of small tasks, practise 'chunking up'. For example you can cut interruptions to your workflow by pulling all your outgoing phonecalls together and dealing with them in a single batch.
Trapped in the web. Put together an internet strategy to minimise the amount of time you spend searching for information on the web. Have a single, clear objective and don't allow yourself to be distracted. Decide how long you are going to spend surfing and use a kitchen timer if necessary to remind you when that time is up. When you come offline, spend a little time reviewing the information you have gathered.
Time is a valuable resource: your attitude towards it and the way you use it can mean the difference between tapping into your own talents or settling for a life that is shrouded in frustration. To balance your life you have to reassess your priorities and stop blaming other people or outside circumstances for all your difficulties. To make changes, step off the treadmill and begin right now – however difficult this might seem at first.
