Managing Life, Creating Work - Life Balance ......

Our Life is more of a mirror impression of our childhood, our surrounding, our education & our values. Without knowing actually our life becomes a definition to a defined “lifestyle”. And this lifestyle is combination of behavior which in turn the results of our habits. To manage our life better, one need direct action on his lifestyle, ultimately a change is expected in our daily habits & routines. Track back in your brain, how we do at our office or at home. Whether self-employed or employed as a "staffer," you may find yourself – “doing the jobs of many, working overtime as a point of habit, carrying on in an office environment where morale is low, taking business calls even you are at a family meet, killing your family wish some time giving importance to an official meeting on week off day and/or foregoing cost-of-living increases, just to stay employed”.




Behavior experts say that it takes 21 days to change a habit, and that too that change demands a promise, a commitment towards this change. Managing habits is managing life.

As we see increasing Stress in the main area to act upon for life style of habit change, its good to learn it now. With stress results as mentioned above, good life-management skills are essential to help reduce stress. This article contains tips on self, home and work from several local technical communicators, professional organizers, some professional coaches / experts to help you realize a less stressful life and of course, essence of Bhagwad Gita, the book on practical life management.

 

·         Separate work from your personal life & cut back on multitasking. Wedge out “planned” time in your schedule for "personal time," & “family life”, just as you would block out time for a meeting. Treat yourself to something you enjoy, like a good workout, music, or a massage. Similarly freaking out with family, the way they want it, will give us inner joy. Ultimately, your home is your home and your family expects the same big time from you as your officer may.

 

·         Make time for silence. An Indian meditation expert says he meditates in different ways to drain the noise of the day from his mind. "Sometimes it's sitting in the back yard to watch squirrels or taking a walk after dark. I find that's extremely useful given the interrupt-driven nature of life. There are so many things that are so pervasive in our lives: email, telephone and cell phones. That half hour of silence makes a huge difference in my day." If you check your habit, you can not live without a phone. Can you? I would suggest a CD of AOL (Art of Living), called “Shanti”. I did practice the way of keeping “silent”, which Shri Shri Ravi Shankar conveyed in that CD. Mind it, it worked. Mentioning a particular CD is just sharing my experience & nothing to do with the promotion of AOL. However there is a heaven of material available on net & in physical form to make you silent when you need so, & then draining out the whole day stress out of your mind.

 

·         Learn to say no. KS Kumar, earlier MD  of my Business Organization, says, "An organized person will clearly know their goals, the job responsibilities that they alone are accountable for, and understand their priorities. And it should be clearly seen as form over substance……. a combination of passion and pressure is a must for maximizing effectiveness.” It is much easier, then, to say no to taking on new tasks or projects which do not fit into their goals, or job responsibilities, and is not one of their priorities.

 

·         As you handle each item repeat the organizer's mantra: "Do I want it? Do I need it? When did I last use/wear it?" and my all-time personal favorite, "What was I thinking?" "Most people confuse their needs with their wants and their shoulds," says Rose Hill, certified business coach. "Needs are those things that must be in place for us to be our best; wants are the icing on the cake that make our lives wonderful, and shoulds are things that others think are best for us but which most likely aren't anything we really need or want. It's easy to see that you need to eat on a regular basis. It's more difficult to see that you might need the respect of your boss. If you function at your best when your boss treats you with respect, then your boss' respect is a need. If what your boss thinks of you is relatively unimportant, then getting the boss' respect is a want, not a need. Its again the combination of form versus substance (referring KS Kumar)

 

• Put a Morning Walk habit or atleast start Exercise. Its fine even if it's just a short walk before work or during lunch. This not only increases endorphins (a "happy-making" hormone), but exercise actually helps you sleep better at night.
• Speaking of sleep, get plenty of it; whatever your body needs to feel good. If you have difficulty falling asleep, try dimming the lights and reducing the air temperature for 30 minutes before you go to bed; doing so engages the body's natural sleep triggers. Still sleep is tough, try not “at all” to sleep at noon (as it’s a general habit at middle east) & just reduce a little dinning intake. Check, it works. I bet, your brain will do everything to not allow you to go out for a walk in the morning. Its left brain man!! But if you commit & move out a week, you will feel heaven. And it will just increase your productivity at office & at home.

 

·         Practice extreme self-care, especially when you are under additional stress. "People think that the first thing they have to sacrifice is what they most enjoy. Culturally, we've been different (from various other countrymen) & taught that being selfish is equal to not being responsible. In actuality, taking care of yourself first is the foundation of responsibility And, no, extreme self-care is not easy at first, but the enhancement to your self, home, and productivity can be phenomenal. Stress management & family inclusion is the best method of self care & be happy. In India, HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar offers AOL Program (Art of Living). Beieve you me, I had never been a member for this society but when once attended their Mediation “Dhyanam” for Blood Pressure management; it gave me a click that it will work. It also gave a clear message to me, that somehow our ancient breath management is the Key, & for that matter Baba Ramdev (or any expert) should once be listened to, or join – to understand the word “meditation”. With so much to do and so little time to do it all, there's never been a better time to be in command of your own health, and to more effectively manage the home and work aspects of your life. Bhagvat Gita is the essence of Vedas. It gives clear idea of life management, as you are clearly you & you & you. I would like to mention two quotes from Bhagawd Gita which keeps you wants away to practice self care.

 

जो हुआ, वह अच्छा , जो हो रहा है, वह अच्छा हो रहा है, जो होगा, वह भी अच्छा ही होगा। तुम भूत का पश्चाताप न करो। भविष्य की चिन्ता न करो। वर्तमान चल रहा है।

 

Whatever happened, happened for the good; whatever is happening, is happening for the good; whatever will happen, will also happen for the good only. You need not have any

regrets for the past. You need not worry for the future. The present is happening.........

 

खाली हाथ आए और खाली हाथ चले। जो आज तुम्हारा है, कल और किसी का था, परसों किसी और का होगा। तुम इसे अपना समझ कर मग्न हो रहे हो। बस यही प्रसन्नता तुम्हारे दु:खों का कारण है।

 

You came empty handed, you will leave empty handed. What is yours today, belonged to someone else yesterday, and will belong to someone else the day after tomorrow. You are mistakenly enjoying the thought that this is yours. It is this false happiness that is the cause of your sorrows.

 

·         May be slowly, but start planning your day in the morning at your job. For that matter, once can use an inexpensive stopwatch to track your billable time. Though computer-based tools are available for accomplishing the same thing. Start taking positive initiatives for almost everything, it will help innovative ideas of you.

 

The gist is to most importantly, take care of your physical and mental needs first. With so much to do and so little time to do it all, there's never been a better time to be in command of your own health, and to more effectively manage the home and work aspects of your life. All the best……………………Mp / pathaksaheb10@gmail.com

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