Tips for Balancing Time Between Work and Home

We tend to put so much effort and worry on things that dont actually matter as much as our kids and our actual relationships.

“Focus on the things that are important to you, and don’t do the extraneous stuff,” says Miller. “It’s a discipline that doesn’t come too naturally to most of us.”

Quality is more important than quantity. Do your work and then spend quality time.  Have time for work, playing with children and paying attention to your partner.  If you have a timeline, you know what you will be doing, which will allow you to schedule everything else around it. 

An early start is the key to managing your whole day. If you are up early, you can deal with some stuff in the morning and even get to work ahead of time. Then you can work on quickly and more efficiently and get done with it in time for the day. Moreover, being organized this way gives you a natural motivational boost as well.

Work should ideally finish during work hours. Don't take it home with you and don't let it affect your family time. It is okay to give time to work once in a while, but don't make it a habit.

If you're lucky, you do the kind of work that sparks your creativity and makes you want to meet its challenges. For me that work is writing: Although I find it hellishly hard, it's the first thing I turn to when I need to express myself or understand the world. I love its very difficulty. 

Most of my clients, however, are work Nazis. They think they should force themselves to do things they loathe. If this is your mental "state of work," it's also the way you'll feel about your job, and it will follow you home—likely in the form of depression or rage. You absolutely must create a mental work state more like what psychologists call flow, the total absorption that comes from doing ....By Martha Beck