It’s been called work-life balance, it’s been called many things, but the label doesn’t really matter – the challenge of carving out enough time is daunting. The list of things we need to do, and give our attention to, is long: taking care of yourself and your home, being there for your family and friends, staying socially connected and active in your community, practicing your religion or spirituality, ensuring your personal growth, getting regular exercise and enough sleep… not to mention having to work and earn a living!
There are countless books, manuals, guides and talks that promise the tools to help you attain this elusive balancing act. Often, it’s best to keep things simple and to start small, then build from there. Here are a handful of things to try:
- Prioritise in all areas of your life.
- Schedule your time and stick to it.
- Take regular breaks during the day.
- Make use of your annual leave to recharge.
- Use technology to boost your productivity, then switch it off and do other things.
Lists like these are all good and well, but how do we create the circumstances that will enable us to implement at least some of these things in our lives? It all comes back to time. Long hours in traffic and lengthy commutes cause frustration and fatigue, and gobble up time, which is one of life’s most valuable commodities. Choosing where we work and live are major factors when it comes to quality of life because these determine how much time we have. Consequently, city planners have been applying themselves to coming up with environments that combine quality of life with being productive members of society.
To this end, mixed-use precincts like Melrose Arch have become highly sought-after places to work, live and spend one’s downtime because they make it possible to live a healthy, balanced life without having to rush from A to B, travel great distances or expend a lot of time and energy to get around. These developments are designed to make it easy to address all your daily needs within a radius small enough to walk.
Residents at One on Whiteley, the latest apartment block to be added to the popular Melrose Arch precinct, have full use of all the facilities and amenities that this world-class development has to offer – offices, restaurants, coffee shops, bars, health clubs, pristine public spaces to pause and relax… all within a few minutes’ walk from each other. Not to mention levels of security that have made this one of the safest public places in Johannesburg.
These are the type of things that make it easier to gain a sense of control over your life, which is the first step to achieving greater balance.