Work – life balance is such a sensitive topic that many of us choose to ignore for years. Jobs are demanding, stressful and leave us with so little free time. You use technology for many purposes, including time management and to minimize stress. Yet, there’s no app available yet to stop the fatigue you feel when you get home. You can re-boost the quality family time by using a reliable and impressive tool. The printable calendar helps you identify work-related concerns to help you balance your job vs. family time.
The calendar is a tool everyone knows how to use, so there’s no learning process involved. You are familiar with its design and the limited space it provides for notes. They cannot allow you to mark too many tasks, as the to-do list does, so the process of controlling your time won’t last long. However, you have constant access to data by placing it in a visible spot. Let’s see more usage tips for the printable calendar to control your work-life balance.
Contents
How can you manage your free hours while keeping control over your full-time job?
Grab the right tools
You don’t need to search for calendars in bookstores or hunt down newspaper shops that don’t have such products available anymore. You can use simple designed monthly sheets which don’t distract you while consulting them. According to Calendar Table, the most efficient designs come in white-black-and-red versions and horizontal or vertical shapes. The calendar website also includes a monthly planner version to allow you to include daily notes such as emails or phone calls.
Aside from the calendar, keep a pen at hand together with some sheets of paper. You will find them useful when prioritizing your responsibilities like online therapy.
Accept who you are
Any new project requires a specific mindset. Who doesn’t know all those sayings, such as Time is money or Sell your talent, not time? Forget about them. You will never be able to do everything you have in mind during a single month. However, not all to-dos can be postponed. So, you will need to prioritize.
There will always be a few kinds of tasks whenever we’re discussing work or your home. Here are some examples.
- Urgent: Taking your vehicle to the car wash or service, client or partner meetings, doctor appointments and so on.
- Desired: Obtaining a driver’s license, changing your workflow, taking a family trip.
- Tasks you can postpone: Cleaning up the garage, home decoration, hiring a new colleague, trainings.
- Recurrent: Work reports, employee appraisals, laundry washing, family visits.
- Relaxing: Reading a book, picnics, breaks, team buildings.
Schedule your free time
Michelle Obama is a busy woman. Yet, when working on her schedule, she begins with family and self-time. According to CNBC ( https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/01/michelle-obama-richard-branson-use-these-calendar-hacks-to-be-happier.html ) , she first books sports activities, family time and vacations. When printing out the calendar, feel free to consider the next three – six months. Mark out national holidays and family events which require attendance.
Set your recurring events such as gym, pool time and activities which require a subscription. Plan anniversaries and events to attend. Focus on your individual needs and desires whenever considering a day’s event. Try to group those events to last for the entire day, to avoid being distracted by work tasks.
Schedule work responsibilities
You can prioritize work easier following the Eisenhower scheme.
- Urgent and important – These tasks usually have immediate effects and benefits – business meetings, contract signing.
- Important but not urgent – They have long-term benefits which improve your overall work, such as team changes or updates of work apps.
- Urgent but not important – Administrative tasks and meetings are usually urgent, even though they lack importance – reports, group emails.
- Not important nor urgent – They are usually distractions which should be done but slow down the process of completing important tasks – unofficial discussions, meetings which don’t directly target your department.
Write down all your responsibilities and prioritize them using the above method. Make sure you color code them to ease up reading the printable calendar information. Also, you will control your working time by consulting with your paper ally in the morning, when you get to work. If you create such a ritual before reading emails, you will also handle your working time more efficiently.
Family time vs. individual time
Family time is essential to your life as it helps you create memories. According to a study 9 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0001879114001110 ) , job and life satisfactions directly link to mental health. Such a balance is essential for your wellbeing. However, you also need to focus on the time you spend solving your individual tasks. Read a book, watch a TV show, learn a new language, play a game. These are the activities which might seem like wasting time. Yet, they allow you to either develop your knowledge or relax your brain.
The printable calendar is a tool you don’t need to fill. There are unexpected situations which might occur, and you need to handle. Make sure your calendar offers you freedom over work, family and individual time.
Printable calendars seem to survive in the age of technology – as reliable allies to apps, cloud programs and daily planners. They can optimize your time while requesting a few minutes of daily use. Once a month passes, you can evaluate your work just by looking back and see how many of your responsibilities were successfully completed during the desired time. Adjust and improve as a new month begins to benefit from the calendar’s continuous effects!
Featured Image Source: Depositphotos.com.
