Keys to a Great Work-Life Balance and Freeing Up Time

US News lists eight secrets to work-life success. Here's the one I like the best:

Prune constantly: Think of yourself as a gardener. "A rosebush produces more buds than it can feed," Cloud says. Gardeners prune the buds that aren't vital. Successful people constantly reassess their schedules and cut down on nonvital activities. They also may need to prune some relationships.

Successful balancers tend to set aside chunks of time at regular intervals for in-depth examinations of their life, goals, and plans, so that they have a plan that reflects their existing priorities, Cloud says.

I guess I particularly like this one because I grow roses. ;-)

Seriously, about a year ago I took a major look at how my time was being spent, and I did some pruning to make myself less busy. Here's what I did to free up some time in my schedule so I could enjoy life a bit more:

1. I eliminated most of the magazines I subscribed to. At one point, I had 12 monthly magazines coming my way. Even though several of them were free, they were still a big time hog, and I got rid of all but four of them. After January, I'll be down to three.

2. My wife and I decided on the "one kid, one activity" rule. Our kids are in one sport or activity at a time. If my son decides he wants to play basketball, then he gives up the winter swim team. If my daughter takes a crafts class, she picks it over gymnastics or dance. We were never really the type of family that did 15 things at once, but even two at a time for each child was too much.

3. I volunteered less and deeper. I was involved with several charities, volunteering my time in different ways. I phased out of all of my commitments except one and have focused more time and energy on that one. There are a lot of great causes out there, but I can't be part of all of them or I'm not really effective for any of them. That's why I'm now involved with a single charity from a volunteer standpoint.

4. Less TV. The biggest time-sucker of all. Yeah, we seem to get involved in one "series" per year (we just finished America's Got Talent), but we rarely have the TV on in the evenings and, miracle of all miracles, I'm even watching less football this year. I'm CONSIDERING not even hooking up our TV in our new house for anything other than video games and DVDs.

That's how I found a ton of time. I realize this is more about pruning on my personal side of life (versus trying to get a better balance with work associated issues), but I've found that freeing up my personal time has helped me be more at peace in general, which has helped me feel better about work and non-work activities.

How about you? Do you have any tips on how to free up time either at work or in your personal life?

Comments

[Sarah]

Reducing TV is probably the easiest way for the majority of people to get back some time. But for my generation and younger, there's also the time spent on the Internet. I don't watch much TV at all, but I fritter away a fair amount of time surfing daily. I'm often talking to long-distance friends at the same time, but not always. I've been thinking about setting some limits on that.

[Lisa @ Cents To Save]

Television is a huge time sucker for me....not to mention my time on the internet. If I truly evaluated the time I spend online I know it would be classified as excessive. But...I let myself get away with it.

[Jim]

A few things I do to save time:

Put all bills on autopayment. This way I don't have to sit down every month and spend a couple hours paying bills.

Plan ahead on grocery purchases and make a single trip to the grocery store each week. If you make multiple trips then you're wasting that much more time.

Exercise during my lunch break at work. I have an hour break so I take half of it and go for a walk. And at the same time I often call my wife so we can chat about whatever needed.

I live close to work. This cuts down significantly on my commute time. The average Americans commute is 25 minutes a day and mine is 10 minutes. Thats an extra hour and 1/4 a week I get compared to average. Of course this is one you have to plan in advance for and is sometimes not financially practical.

I use a DVR for TV watching. That cuts TV watching time by about -33% since you can fast forward past commercials. Renting DVDs of TV shows after the fact has the same effect.

Jim

[savvy]

While I haven't banished TV altogether, I sometimes declare a no TV week for myself. I find that I'm much more productive when I don't waste an hour or more each night watching TV. Sure the shows are interesting but they don't help me accomplish my goals.

[Brenda @ CureMyCredit]

TV is a definate waste of time. If you must watch, then consider TiVo or DVR where you can efficiently watch, eliminating commercials! Thanks for the post. Just a reminder on keeping your eye on the prize, not on the television!

[Todd]

TV isn't that much of a problem for me, since I probably don't watch more than ten hours a week of it and even then I'm usually doing something else while watching, like updating my net worth on my financial software or filling out time sheets.

Overall, I find that I have enough time to do most of everything I want except for reading. I'm an avid reader and have several thousand books on a variety of topics. I don't think I'll ever get through them all. I've been limited to about a book a week. I look forward to retirement and upping that to 2-3 books a week.

[Lauren]

I am in graduate school full time, doing an internship for graduate school two days per week as a therapist, and working three days per week. It is a stressful, hectic schedule with late nights.

My rule for myself is that, with very limited exceptions, I refuse to do anything work or school related on the weekends. Yes, I will take a seminar class here or there on a Saturday. Yes, I will study for my licensing exam on the weekends. But I leave work at work, I leave internship at internship, and I do my homework during lunch breaks or between therapy sessions. It makes the work week busy, but it allows me to truly relax and have free time on the weekends, which is what I need.

I very much look forward to graduating in May.

[Gloria]

I LOVE TV. This is my addiction. I Tivo everything so I watch when I have time like on the weekends. They should have support groups for this