4 Stupidly Simple Ways To Develop a Work-Life Flow

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In my opinion, work-life flow is a much better way to achieve sustainable productivity in comparison to work-life balance.

Work-life flow is all about personal accountability, self-care, and mindful productivity.

As a mindset and productivity coach for perfectionists, I make an effort to encourage my clients to set realistic goals and work WITH themselves instead of against themselves. This often means throwing out the idea of work-life balance in favour of work-life flow.

Work-life balance implies that work and life are two separate mutually exclusive things and that the goal is to find a way to balance the scales 50/50. And let’s be real anyone who has actually tried to do this has realised that it is an impossible task.

This blog post will give you some simple ways to develop a work-life flow so you can get the most fulfilment out of your life without burning out. You won’t have to go through the shame of trying and failing to achieve the elusive work-life balance, instead, you’ll feel confident in your ability to meet your needs and prioritise your tasks effectively – flowing through life.

Also, work-life flow is also known as work-life integration and work-life harmony.

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Table of Contents

What is work-life flow?

Work-life flow is all about integrating your professional and personal responsibilities in a way that emphasises flexibility, your values and your overall wellbeing. It’s not necessarily about dividing your life into two parts, work and life, but rather understanding that work is a big PART of your life but it isn’t your whole life.

I like to think of work-life flow as understanding the ebb and flow of life in general. Life is unpredictable which means at times you’ll need to prioritise different things at different times.

For example, we have 8 areas of our life that we flow through daily:

Personal and spiritual growth
Friends and family
Career and business
Finances
Fun and recreation
Romantic relationships
Physical environment
Health and Fitness

The goal is to find harmony between the 8 areas of your life and flow between them prioritising different areas when needed.

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Here are 4 ways to develop a work-life flow

1. Identify your needs

In order to flow through life effectively, you need to be able to identify your needs in real-time and set boundaries with yourself and others to enable you to meet your needs.

In life, we each have 6 human needs:

Certainty: The need for safety, security, and predictability in life
Uncertainty: The desire for new experiences, challenges, and change to prevent boredom
Significance: The need to feel important, valued, and worthy of attention
Love and Connection: The desire to feel close to others, to love and be loved, and to have a sense of belonging
Personal Growth: The need for continual development, learning, and personal improvement
Contribution: The desire to give to others, to make a difference, and to contribute to something greater than yourself.

Checking in with yourself regularly to assess these needs is important because it helps you stay in tune with your mental, emotional and physical state. You’ll be able to adapt and make necessary adjustments to your schedule based on your internal needs.

When you honour your needs, you can set appropriate boundaries that protect your time and energy, ensuring that you maintain harmony between your personal and professional life.

I’ve definitely been in situations where my work anxiety has spilt over into my leisure time and I used to feel guilty because I wasn’t properly satisfying ‘work-life balance’. I thought it meant that I was failing in my healing journey.

When I decided to check in with my needs and acknowledge that I was feeling workplace stress due to uncertainty, I was able to identify the next steps to help me ease my anxiety.

2. Energy management

Energy management is a game changer when it comes to developing a work-life flow. The key to daily productivity is to work WITH your body instead of against it. Energy levels fluctuate throughout the day and seasons so it’s important to find ways to boost your energy and limit activities that drain your energy.

For example, I’m an early bird, so I like to prioritise my harder tasks in the morning when I am at my peak productivity level. I also suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD) in the winter which means I focus a lot of my energy on boosting my energy levels all while acknowledging that my energy will be lower than it is in the summer months.

As I said before, it’s all about working WITH yourself.

There’s no point trying to push myself to do more than I am capable of doing because it will result in burnout. The trick is to track your energy patterns effectively and then learn when to allocate your tasks depending on whether they are energy-draining or energy-boosting.

I try to limit energy-draining activities and squeeze in as many energy-boosting activities as I can throughout the day to help me remain productive in my personal and professional life.

Here are some examples of energy-boosting tasks

Practising mindfulness
Listening to uplifting podcasts
Completing small, achievable tasks to build momentum
Celebrating my small wins
Going for a walk
Participating in hobbies
Exercise
Fulfilling work tasks i.e. creating content
Catching up with a coworker
Working on a single task at a time

Here are some examples of energy-draining activities

Multi-tasking
Commuting in heavy traffic
Attending long and unproductive meetings
Doom-scrolling on social media
Repetitive and tedious tasks
Working in a disorganised environment

Understanding energy management and learning to implement strategies that work WITH your body and mind is the best way to achieve work-life flow.

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3. Set boundaries and communicate them

Boundaries are ESSENTIAL when it comes to maintaining work-life flow. However, you can only set effective boundaries when you know what your needs are. Many of my clients struggle with boundaries at first because they have no idea what is really going on in their internal world. They are so used to people-pleasing that saying no and putting themselves first feels like such a foreign concept.

Boundaries keep you safe.

Boundaries enable you to live the life that you want and stay in alignment with your values.

The ability to set authentic boundaries in real-time enables you to adapt and remain flexible without sacrificing your needs.

Here are some boundaries that you might want to set for work-life flow:

Energy management: schedule your most important tasks when you feel most energetic. Try to increase energy-boosting tasks and limit energy-draining tasks to enable work-life flow
Working hours: set clear start and end times for work, but allow for flexibility if needed. Try to set a no-go zone when it comes to evening work so that you can still prioritise your sleep and wellbeing
Self-care: include activities that nurture your well-being in your daily routine, such as exercise, meditation, or hobbies
Task prioritisation: don’t overcommit yourself; know your limits and stick to them. If your workload is too high, communicate this clearly with your manager with a solution-focused mindset
Values alignment: choose work and personal activities that reflect what’s important to you. Make sure your actions are in line with your core values. For example, if integrity is important to you, make sure you are honest with yourself about how you are living your life.
Emotional boundaries: protect your emotional well-being by recognising when to step back. Don’t take on too much emotional labour from work or personal relationships and communicate your needs kindly and clearly

Communication scripts for setting boundaries

An essential skill for setting boundaries is learning how to communicate them clearly and effectively.

Poor communication can do a lot of damage to your personal and professional relationships. In order to avoid damaging these connections, I recommend you start with learning about nonviolent communication (NVC) by Marshall B Rosenberg.

Implementing nonviolent communication has changed my life for the better.

I used to be a people-pleaser and conflict avoidant which resulted in me building up resentment and staying in situations longer than I needed in my personal and professional life. Nonviolent communication enabled me to honestly express my feelings and needs empathetically while also remaining direct.

I highly recommend that you read the book as it contains many different types of communication scripts which will help you in ALL areas of your work-life flow.

Here is an example of a boundary-setting script:

Observation: describe the specific situation or behaviour prompting the need for a boundary. Stick to the facts without judgment or accusation.
Feelings: use ‘I’ statements to describe your feelings about the situation
Need: clearly explain the unmet need that is connected to this feeling
Request: make a specific actionable request to meet your need

4. Work for employers that share the same values as you

Finally, I HIGHLY recommend you try to work for employers that share the same values as you do as it will greatly improve your work-life flow. I know it is easier said than done and different times in your life require different working environments but if you have the choice between 2 jobs try to choose the job with similar company values.

When your workplace aligns with your personal beliefs and values, you are more likely to feel fulfilled and motivated.

Life will feel like it is flowing a lot easier because the work you are doing is meaningful for you.

Your professional goals will be in harmony with your personal values allowing for better integration between your personal and professional life – it won’t necessarily feel like a trade-off between the two.

When I am applying for new jobs, I always look at the company values page and I even quiz my interviewers on it in my interview. Not only does it show that I have done my research, but it also shows that it is something that I passionately care about. So far, using this method, I have secured every job I have wanted because it is clear that my personal values align with their company values.

I hope you enjoyed this blog post with 4 stupidly simple ways to develop a work-life flow

If you’ve made it this far down the blog, then I might as well introduce myself!

Hey perfectionist, my name is Teresa and I’m a Mindset and Productivity Coach. I specialise in working closely with high-achieving perfectionists, helping them untangle their self-worth from their achievements so they can be productive without burning out.

I’m a big believer in practising what I preach, so everything I’ve talked about in this blog post is things I’ve actually done to create a holistic work-life flow.

Healing is hard, and it took me many YEARS to figure out the process. This is why I’m dedicated to helping perfectionists heal faster than I ever could.

If you’re ready to stop going through cycles of go-go-go and burnout and reclaim your life drop a comment below, message me on Instagram or sign up for a discovery call.

Whatever you do, I’m here to help!

Book recommendations for developing a work-life flow

The body keeps the score by Bessel van der Kolk
Atomic Habits by James Clear
7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
Nonviolent communication by Marshall B Rosenberg

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4 Stupidly Simple Ways To Develop a Work-Life Flow

What is work-life flow?

For example, we have 8 areas of our life that we flow through daily: