Compartmentalize. Or, Find Work-Life Balance in a Carton of Eggs

I’ve been seeing a lot of eggs lately – and it reminds me of a great way to achieve work-life balance and the resultant energy, productivity, and enrichment: compartmentalize.

An egg carton is a great visual to help promote work-life balance, which can be quite a challenge amid our electronically connected lives. Think of life as the egg carton, each cup representing different aspects of your life: work, family, hobbies, friends, faith, health, home, etc. Your mind is the like the egg. For example, when I put my egg in the “work” cup, I aim to be focused on work.

Sometimes, and quite naturally, my mind wanders into another compartment – “Oh, I need more laundry detergent!” And just then, the egg “broke” a little. If it happens too often throughout the day it could make a real mess out of the whole carton. The end result may leave one feeling exhausted or less-than productive.

Most often, I do well to compartmentalize work tasks at work. But on the weekend or days off? My egg can so easily break and leak into the work compartment. I may have a new idea or solution to a problem, which is great! Or, I might just be mentally reviewing my task list, which can distract me from fully enjoying the other important cups of life. If the latter happens too often, it can leave me feeling distant from loved ones or like I “need more weekend”.

Keeping your eggs contained in the cups helps maintain energy, productivity, and a sense of living a full and balanced life. How can you keep your egg carton neat? Compartmentalize! Here are some examples of how:

1. Decide to focus on being in whatever compartment you are in at the moment, or period of the day. Use all of your senses to appreciate the experience.

2. Accept that thoughts and ideas for other compartments will naturally occur – and be grateful for them! This is how many problems can be solved creatively.

3. Create a task list for each compartment to capture those great ideas.

4. Don’t spend your energy on worries or other similarly unsolvable thoughts that leak into your present compartment. Tell yourself you’ll deal with it when your egg is in the right cup.

5. Have a transition plan to go from one compartment to the next. It’s natural, for example, to review the work day after you leave. But to keep it from leaking over into family time, decide that you will stop after you pass a certain stop sign on your commute home or when you enter the driveway. Likewise, when you arrive at work, consider the action of shutting your car door as leaving the home compartment “at home” before entering the work one.

6. Be sure that each important area of your life has a compartment and gets the attention it needs.

Are you looking for more energy, productivity, and enrichment found in optimal work-life balance? Try using this egg carton visual to compartmentalize your thoughts, attention, and senses. And let me know how it works!