What’s your work-life balance type?

You are clear about keeping work and other activities separate. You are good at setting boundaries and rarely do personal things at work, and vice versa. This clear separation helps you to organise and prioritise easily.

Because you do work life balance in a structured way, you may find other peoples’ ways of prioritising frustrating especially when their actions mess up your plans. There is a chance that you may also be perceived by others as too rigid or, in a work context, not committed enough.

Structured thinkers have many advantages, particularly when it comes to organising and prioritising but they tend to apply this thinking in all situations when sometimes it’s useful to go with the flow, for example on group activities or on holiday.

It may help you to:

• Let it go when people let you down by changing their plans, they are not doing it deliberately to be difficult.
• Think about where you may be perceived as inflexible and consider how to address this. Think about how you can present yourself as flexible in some important circumstances, particularly if your boss values this.
• Go to the occasional work social event.
• Have some occasions where you are willing to go with the flow and with the decisions of others, particularly on holiday or at the weekends.

You genuinely enjoy your work and it is a key focus in your life. You don’t think anything of keeping work at the front of your mind, even on holiday.

This focus probably means that you have a successful career and are well respected for your achievements. You get frustrated when other people criticise you for this or get concerned about you, thinking that you are over working. You don’t see it this way. There is a chance that your love of your work may have negative consequences for other areas of your life, like health and relationships.

Work lovers are motivated by constantly moving forward which has many positives but they can fail to stop and ask themselves if they are truly happy or content and are often moving forward too quickly to evaluate whether it’s really where they want to go. If Work Lovers never stop working, their health may be affected.

It may help you to:
• Build time into your diary where you are forced to switch off, even if it’s for an hour a day. Pick something non work related that engages your brain, like reading a (non work related) book or taking some exercise like a team sport where you have to think.
• Consider seeing a Coach regularly to help you take stock and make sure you are going in the right direction for you. They can also help you consider other aspects of your life that may need more of your attention, like relationships or health
• Consciously make time for the important people in your life
• Make sure you have a good diet to keep you healthy and give you enough energy

Your work life balance focus is to make things fair. You see your life as a delicate balance and it’s important to make sure everything has a bit of your time and attention.

Duty and responsibility is important to you, if you say yes to something you are committed. You are often seen as the peacemaker, trying to find solutions that suit everybody like when planning a holiday or group work activity. At work you take your responsibilities seriously. Because of this you can often feel like you are in a constant tug of war with yourself and occasionally get fed up with trying to please everyone.

Other people can get frustrated with you for not taking quick decisions. Equalisers are prone to stress because they feel they can never quite achieve the level of fairness they seek. They can also be prone to worrying about what other people think.

It may help you to:
• Take time to reflect on what you really want, make sure ‘me time’ is part of your plan
• Avoid negative or manipulative people as they will be more likely to see you as a soft touch and try and influence you. Make sure your friends and support network are positive and do as much for you as you do for them
• Learn assertiveness skills and how to ask for help if these are things you find difficult
• Do something spontaneous occasionally

You believe it is possible to do everything you want to and so fill your life with lots of activities. Often seen as very enthusiastic and energetic, people often come to you because you are likely to say yes.

You love a varied social and work life and will often socialise with work people. Living life to the full is important to you. Others may view you as fun to be with but fickle or inconsistent because you have so many things going on. Sometimes you let people down by not following through on commitments or turning up for events.

You are are highly capable and can juggle many things but you can lack direction and focus which might affect your relationships as well as your career. Crammers need to keep stimulated with variety and if they don’t have lots going on, they can get down or depressed. They are also prone to exhaustion.

It may help you to:
• Take a small amount of time to consider request or invitations rather than saying yes straight away. Remember that saying yes to something means saying no to something else.
• Make a Top 5 list of the things, work activities and people you really value and prioritise activities related to those. This will help give you focus and direction.
• Consider where in your life you might want to be seen as consistent or reliable (for example work or key relationships) and make a conscious effort not to go back on promises or commitments in that context.
• Keep one or two nights a week activity free for recharging your energy.