Work-life Balance

You can have it all. You can't have it all. Balance your work and your life. There is no balance. Prioritize! Manage your time!

With so much conflicting advice and so many demands on your time, it's no wonder you feel overwhelmed by your commitments. No matter your age, your marital or parental status, or your profession, you juggle a lot. Work, home, family duties, volunteer activities, your own interests and mental health--every day you face the constant push and pull of a full life.

But having a full life isn't a bad thing, and it doesn't have to be a constant source of stress. You'll never divide your time or attention evenly between all of your activities and commitments, but you can discover ways to make choices and trade-offs and feel less stressed about them. This guide brings together a variety of expert voices with a carefully selected set of ideas for managing all of your competing interests more effectively. You’ll learn how to:

• Make sustainable contributions to the most important areas of your life
• Create a schedule that works for most everyone, most of the time
• Understand the difference between must-do and to-do items on your list
• Make time for yourself
• Assuage feelings of guilt and failure
• Ease the strain on your personal and professional relationships
• Be present at home--and at work
• Cope with unexpected gaps in child- or eldercare

Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, from a source you trust. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.

Harvard Business Review is the leading destination for smart management thinking. Through its flagship magazine, 13 international licensed editions, books from Harvard Business Review Press, and digital content and tools published on HBR.org, Harvard Business Review provides professionals around the world with rigorous insights and best practices to lead themselves and their organizations more effectively and to make a positive impact.

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