The Secret Mantra For New/Would-be Parents To Achieve Work-Life Balance In The 21st Century
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YOLO! You all must have heard of this term. But, do you know what it means? The inspiration behind the famous aphorism “you only live once” is that you should make every day count. A common obstacle you might face when you are trying to do this is, how you can balance your personal life and professional life. The act of balancing between these two comes through experience.
On one hand, you want to excel professionally so that you can provide the best for your family and on the other hand, you want to dedicate as much time as possible to your family and your little ones to see them grow up — work-life balance. Yes, in the 21st century, it is a trending topic. There is a constant dilemma in your mind, whether you should strive harder professionally to better the standard of living of your family or dedicate more time to your family. The moment you balance both of these, you have a happier life. For regular people like you and me, family comes first. Your dreams revolve around your loved ones, be it a dream home, higher education abroad, or yearly vacations with your loved ones. You go to great lengths to make sure that they live their best lives. For all this, money is a crucial factor and if you have it planned, much of your burden disappears.
As young parents or would be parents, the most common worry you hear from parents with grown-up kids are, “My kid is going abroad for studies and I have only a few years to retire. I do not want my kid to bear the burden, I’ll manage”. You make a compromise with your lifestyle for the betterment of your kid or your family. As a result, you either start working harder (at an age you probably should be relaxing) or you keep getting stressed. As a result, you become unhappy at a personal and professional level. But, why make this compromise when you can plan ahead and ensure you save enough for your long term goals without compromising your present happiness.
Plan for the future in the present
Many of you want to live in the present, the Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara formula! But, living in the present has a vital component attached to it – planning for tomorrow. If your tomorrow is secured, you live worry-free today. So, whatever goals you have in your career or for your family, if you invest a small amount every month for these goals, and get back a substantial amount of money during the key milestones, you have a burden off your shoulder.
Moreover, once this is done, you can grow professionally and personally without the worry factor bugging you. Hence, to help everyone out there, who have problems coping up with work-life balance and managing their finances, we asked a few parents how they excelled in doing so. Here are few of the top mantras they follow:
- Spend extra time with your family on weekends.Possibly go out with them for a movie or a dinner. Dedicate the time spent with them, to only them, and do not let work get in the way.
- Go for at least one vacation yearly where you discourage all office calls.Go for trips that are for two weeks or so. This de-stresses you totally. Not to mention, if such trips are international trips, then it might involve quite a lot of money for your entire family. This is why you need to look out for plans that help you cater to these long term goals. For example, life insurance plans like ICICI Pru Lakshya Wealth ensures that you get a lump sum amount with very little investment every month. The maturity amount ensures that you can take your full family to the best possible holiday destinations. Additionally, with tax savings, you have more money in hand every month. So you can make those short trips too with your family.
- Plan finances years ahead for your key milestones in life with financial plans that cater to these milestones.Before you know it, your kid is all grown-up. He/she might want to choose their career on their own. You are always the protector and enabler of their dreams. You want to give your beautiful daughter the best possible wedding, or you might want to send your kid to an Ivy League school. But all these are costly affairs. A wedding in today’s time costs around 15-20 lakhs. In another ten years, this cost is likely to double or triple. Hence, you must start investing a small amount every month from today for these big milestones. Additionally, you must secure your family financially in case of any unfortunate events so that no matter what, these dreams come true. Therefore, a plan like ICICI Pru Lakshya Wealth, that not only takes care of your financial milestones but also protects the financial future of your family, is a perfect match.
- Talk about any stress at the office with your loved ones.Share, don’t bottle up and keep everything inside. Keeping things inside might increase your stress hence, keep sharing little things with someone you trust. The more you keep things inside, the more it stresses you up. So, clean the cupboard of your mind once in a while with someone close and trustworthy.
- Engage yourself in some kind of physical activity.Be it yoga or gym or just jogging, you must pursue at least one physical activity. As you know, a healthy body ensures a healthy mind. Hence, you get more energy for all the daily activities and it slowly starts showing up in your work and personal life.
Having learnt the secret mantras for happy parenthood and a proper work-life balance, let us know if you follow these tips. Do you follow something more? Do let us know about those too.
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