How to Handle Stress and Balance Life for Working Women
Women make up a substantial portion of the working world. They’re breaking through gender barriers across all industries, providing essential leadership and smashing through their goals like never before. It’s no wonder many full-time working women report feeling stressed. Having a successful career while raising a family is difficult. And that doesn’t account for taking time for themselves along the way.
Today we have some helpful tips, designed to ensure working women can handle stress while maintaining a work-life balance.
- Identify the priorities
To be successful in any facet of life, it is essential you sort out your priorities, in both your professional as well as your personal life. In order to identify these priorities, first, begin by asking yourself a few questions.
- What is completely non-negotiable and cannot be compromised under any circumstances?
- Do you have prior commitments to friends, family, or your employer? If so, can you schedule new commitments?
- How much time do you have to dedicate to current tasks and can you work in time for new ones?
Once you are able to figure out what your responsibilities are at different levels, you’ll be able to prioritize them.
- Communication
Communication is an integral skill in reducing stress and finding the right work-life balance. If you have to drive your child to school in the morning, communicating with your office manager or HR representative could provide flexible solutions such as different start-time. If this isn’t realistic in your workplace, communicating with other moms in your neighborhood could lead to discovering a carpooling solution.
In your personal life, putting up a family calendar can help everyone communicate the events and activities occurring in their lives, allowing for everyone to prepare accordingly. Communication leads to high levels of productivity simply by being prepared and organized, ensuring you’re at the top of your game in all areas.
- Delegation
It’s impossible to do everything on your own. When you try to do everything by yourself, your body and mind function in constant overload. The longer you push yourself, the more likely you’ll experience a crash. Instead, you should ask for help.
For example, asking a coworker to take on a task better suited to their strengths or assigning that task to a subordinate instead can ease your workload. At home, dividing household chores among the members of your family spreads the responsibility out more evenly.
- Stay connected
Thanks to technology, reaching your loved ones is easier than ever. As a working mother, you can log into video security systems at daycares, verify when your children get home from school, or video call teens to check in on them. These check-ins help ease your stress. You don’t have to wonder or worry about where your children are or if they’re safe, freeing your mind to focus on work, thereby increasing your productivity.
Beyond checking in with your family, social media offers a level of connection as well. Participating in PTA groups or neighborhood watch groups provide a sense of comfort and communication by including you in a larger network. You can rely on others to keep you in the loop or even step in if ever there’s an emergency that you can’t get to fast enough, ensuring peace of mind.
- Limit distractions
When balancing full-time work-life with full-time home life, time becomes extremely valuable. By avoiding unnecessary distractions, you can ensure your body and mind get the rest they both need.
Turning off your smartphone when you’re home and not checking your email after hours takes you out of work-mode. This allows you to focus on the tasks and activities important to you and your family while also reducing stress. By being present in your home life, you’ll find higher levels of focus and productivity in your work life as well.
- The power of NO
No matter who you are, there is a limit to what you can fit in a day. Learn to say NO to things that are not aligning with your priorities. Mastering communication, relying on technology, and understanding your priorities will help ensure you have the tools necessary to be successful and both work and home. Most importantly, learning the power of NO is key for managing your professional and personal life successfully.
