What's the most valuable lesson you've learned about balancing work and personal life?

My therapist told me that "excellence has to be operationalized". As a perfectionist, being excellent in my job meant to work late many times, thus, creating balance problems. For me that sentence put me in a different frame of mind, so that I tried to be excellent in the process and creativity, not just on the outcome.

Take stock of everything that’s important to you and make sure you dedicate enough time for all of them. I learned the hard way how easy it is to forget about some parts when you get busy. I set up a daily routine on my calendar with dedicated time each day for working, exercising, family time, reading, networking and sleeping, and it’s been working out brilliantly so far for me. I’m not so rigid on the exact start/end time as such, and it serves more as a nice reminder of what I’m giving up if I don’t. ——— BACKSTORY: I worked as the co-founder and CTO at a startup for the past 8 years until recently. The work was exciting and rewarding and I was putting in an absurd amount of time each week to make sure it had the best chance of success. I love spending time with my family and was spending loads of time with them as well, so I thought everything was going really well. It wasn’t until I left the role and took some time off that I realised how much else I had given up to work those hours over all those years, some of which are: 1. Sleep: I needed more hours a day and the easiest way to get it was to sleep less. I would sleep 3-4 hours each weekday and try to “catch-up” during the weekend. 2. Exercise: I’ll always tell myself, I’ll start exercising properly after this next milestone. Except there’s always another milestone, so it never happened. After 8 years of completely ignoring my fitness, my flexibility and energy levels are pretty abysmal. 3. Time outdoors was a thing just for weekends, if that. I worked from home so sometimes it could be days before I stepped outside. 4. Exploring new tech, ideas: I focused only on those that meant sense for the business and ignored everything else, which meant I was happily forcing myself into a bubble. 5. Reading: I used to be a voracious reader, but it became a luxury reserved for holidays. An unexpected result was that my vocabulary was getting pretty limited because I just wasn’t seeing or using words outside the context of my domain, and our company comms was very relaxed. 6. Networking: I didn’t spend anytime building or maintaining my network, which resulted in my network getting smaller and smaller. Such a shame now when looking back. I’m glad I got the time to reflect and figure all of this out for myself, and determined to be better with it all going forward. Hopefully this helps someone else realise there’s other things that you should consider dedicating time to that’s not really talked about that much.

The most valuable lesson I've learned about balancing work and personal life is that it's like finding the right fulcrum point on a lever. You need to find the sweet spot where you can balance the demands of work and personal life without one overpowering the other. It takes practice and adjustment, but once you find that point, everything falls into place.

I'm gonna controversially say that trying to meticulously find a balance is far too over-rated. Some weeks of life it's just work time, some weeks it's family and friends, the balance shifts constantly and adapts. Just take it as it goes.

Setting boundaries and prioritizing self-care are key lessons I've learned in balancing work and personal life. By establishing clear boundaries and making time for activities that promote well-being, we can avoid burnout and achieve greater fulfillment in all aspects of our lives.

Probably that it's better to be consistent and do less work than work a lot but burn out

You have to center the planning around your personal life and fill the remaining gaps with work. Otherwise, you keep sacrificing from your personal life as it can be easier to ignore

It's important to learn to say no

Balancing work and personal life can be a difficult task, and there are a lot of different strategies that people use to find their own balance. For me, the most valuable lesson I've learned is the importance of setting boundaries and being intentional with my time.

I achieve work and personal life balance by making time for my hobbies, I prioritise spending time with my loved ones and I try to travel, like have a small getaway every moth or two 😃

with good personal life, your professional life will also be good. there is no if/or.

The importance of clear boundaries in work-life management is one of my biggest lessons. I've found that separating work and personal life makes it easier to focus and maintain a good balance. This strategy has improved my efficiency and let me enjoy my personal life without guilt. Balance in life is said to promote happiness and well-being.

It is necessary to balance in such a way that everything would be fine on all sides. I personally think that this is an individual question.

My top lesson? Don't try to balance a laptop on your head while doing yoga. It never ends well. 😂 But in all seriousness, prioritize what's important and set boundaries. Work hard, but also make time for loved ones and self-care💪

I learned that making time for self-care activities helps prevent stress build-up and burnout. Schedule time for self-care activities and maintain that schedule. A cared-for self makes a better self personally and professionally.

Make a conscious effort to take breaks and engage in activities that you enjoy, such as hobbies and spending time with friends or family. Exercise is also a great way to reduce stress and increase productivity (among other benefits). It's essential to recognize when things get out of hand and take steps to regain balance, such as adjusting work hours or taking a break. It's common to work more than 40 hours a week, but it's not sustainable for anyone, as I've experienced with 60-80+ hour weeks. Instead of focusing on a fixed process for tasks, it's essential to focus on the objective and find the most efficient way to achieve it - and advancements in AI can help you save a lot of time this way :)