8 Celeb Secrets to Help You Achieve the Perfect Work + Life Balance
Any girl boss knows that while professional success can be rewarding, it can also take a serious toll on your personal life. Those 10-hour days will definitely help launch your career, but when do you have time to see your friends or family? It’s a dilemma we’ve all had, and one we’re always trying to find a solution for. Constantly running from activity to activity can only work for so long before you encounter some serious burnout. If we can hardly manage both, how do celebs with jam-packed schedules do it? Here are 8 tips on balancing life and work from a few of our favorite Hollywood go-getters.
1. Schedule personal time. In a recent post on her website, Lauren Conrad explains, “I have found that I need to have some time at night where I don’t check my phone, don’t send emails and actually refrain from even thinking about what’s going on with work. Think of it as scheduling personal time — even block out your calendar for it! It’s important to go home, decompress and give your mind a break. Yes, that means putting your phone in the other room for a few hours, as hard as it may be.” (Photo via @laurenconrad)
2. Be realistic about what you can do. In a commencement speech at Dartmouth, Shonda Rhimes told graduates, “If I am succeeding at one, I am inevitably failing at the other. That is the tradeoff. That is the Faustian bargain one makes with the devil that comes with being a powerful working woman who is also a powerful mother. You never feel 100% okay; you never get your sea legs; you are always a little nauseous.” (Photo via Charley Gallay/Getty)
3. Remember that work isn’t everything. It can be rewarding to thrive in your career, but tossing aside everything else isn’t worth it in the long run. While you might feel guilty missing a week of work for your best friend’s wedding in the moment, you’ll likely be grateful you were there when you’re reminising about the day 20 years later. Presidental candidate Hillary Clinton put it bluntly in a quote that reads, “Don’t confuse having a career with having a life.” Touché, Hillary. (Photo via Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty)
4. One aspect of your life will always dominate the other. In an interivew with Katie Couric, legendary supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg explains that although you can try, it will hardly ever be a perfect balance. She says, “You can’t have it all all at once. Over my lifespan, I think I have had it all, but in given periods in time, things were rough. And if you have a caring life partner, you help the other person when that person needs it.” (Photo via Paul Morigi/Getty)
5. Know your limits. In order to salvage your personal time, it’s important to know what your limits are. Does your work ethic seriously suffer after eight solid hours at the office? That’s totally okay! Do everything you can to stop yourself from working after that amount of time. Knowing what your maximum capacity is will help you really realize when it’s time to call it a day. Gwenyth Paltrow offered up a similar sentiment in regards to her acting career. She said, “I look for an interesting supporting part about once a year. That’s the most I can manage. Some women can do it [all] and that’s fantastic, but I can’t. You make choices as a wife and mother, don’t you? You can’t have it all. I don’t care what it looks like.” (Photo via @gwynethpaltrow)
6. Just keep swimming. There are times when balancing the two can become overwhelming — that part is inevitable. Tina Fey explains, “I think every working mom probably feels the same thing: You go through big chunks of time where you’re just thinking, ‘This is impossible — oh, this is impossible.’ And then you just keep going and keep going, and you sort of do the impossible.” (Photo via Kevork Djansezian/Getty)
7. Learn the power of saying “no.” Saying yes to every job and task you’re asked to do can easily lead to taking on way too much. There is power and importance in learning how to respectfully decline offers – be they personal or professional. When Mary-Kate Olsen was recently asked to share the best career advice she’s ever received, she simply said, “No is a full sentence.” (Photo via Robin Marchant/Getty)
8. Realize when a shift in your career is necessary. After Drew Barrymore became a mom, she opted to focus more on her work in the beauty industry rather than her acting career. The reason? It offered regular hours. In an interview with More magazine, she explains, “… even on a workday I can wake up with my kids, go to work, come home, bedtime — there’s a normal life there. And it’s exciting when you have to go on a business trip, as opposed to a film where you’re gone for months. I can’t do that right now. As you add more onto your plate, particularly family, things have to fall off, or you won’t be a good parent.” (Photo via @drewbarrymore)
Have any of your own work-life-balance advice? Share it with us in the comments below!