5 Women Share Their Secrets To Achieving A Healthy Work-Life Balance

Kierra Lanice | Professional MUA

One of the ways I practice a work/life balance is having quiet time in the morning. I wake up with a more soothing alarm instead of an abrupt one that scares me out of my sleep. This is followed by 15 minutes of praying, meditation, reading, or devotion. The key is that this time has to be spent in a designated area outside of your bed.

I also don't think I could have a work/life balance without writing everything, from schedules to tasks and goals, down on paper. Doing this allows you to hold yourself accountable more when you see your own handwriting versus something you type or try to remember on your own.

I've gotten to the point where I schedule time to talk to family and reconcile relationships.

I try to connect with someone in my family at least once a day; not on social media, but on the phone; my siblings, elders in the family, younger cousins, distant relatives, etc. A simple 3-5 minute check-in takes your mind off of your life bubble.

A major benefit I've found in my journey to a work/life balance is the "Do Not Disturb" button on my phone. We live in a high-tech, low-touch society. Turning my phone off to constant notifications and emails allows for more time to focus on what matters in the moment.

I learned to be honest with myself and communicate when I'm getting overwhelmed. If you can lie to yourself, you'll lie to anyone. I had to set boundaries and learn to communicate when they're crossed. This is HUGE for me.

Dani D | Radio Personality

It's honestly not easy for me to balance my work and personal life because they run so closely together. Being a radio personality is a lifestyle. I'm a public figure, so being transparent comes with my career. But I try my best not to 'overshare.' Everyone doesn't need to know everything.

On Sundays, which are really my only off days, I take time for myself to talk to God, get in a good pampering session, clean, eat something good, read, or just binge-watch my favorite shows.

"Me time" is crucial for my sanity!

I also make sure that I spend a good amount of time with my family and friends. I never let work get in the way of relationships that are important to me. Overall, I've found that there are ways to balance work and life. It's not easy, but it can be accomplished without a doubt!

Kenni Powe | Model

For me, a work-life balance is feeling content with every area of your life. As a career woman right out of college, I was sucked into the "work hard" lifestyle of Corporate America, so I'm grateful the corporation I work for believes in this balance and provides an easy work lifestyle.

I think a peace of mind is the main thing to maintain; peace of mind knowing that everything won't always go as planned. When you have a healthy balance of work and play (meaning life), you feel more at liberty to manipulate your schedule without being afraid.

I am the type of person who believes in boundaries in life and that every piece of your life is only as big and successful as the time you put into it; balance creates contentment. You can't feed one area in your life while the other areas starve and call yourself successful.

I believe balance curates freedom, creativity, flexibility, stamina, and tenacity to fight for what you want in this life and what you will sacrifice to get it.

I am a To-do List Calendar Junkie! I love making daily, monthly, and quarterly lists to ensure my image of success for my life is maintained. Some people measure success by the money they gain. But success to me is being passionately fulfilled and at peace with my life decisions. Back to being a junkie; I routinely ensure that I touch every segment of my life every day in my daily list. This normally starts off with a heading of what makes me who I am and fulfills me as a person.

The headings generally include GOD, Food, Health (workout), Public Projects (community service), Business Projects (corporate), Home, Knowledge, ME ME ME, and Events. The best part of creating these lists is when you get to mark something off of it. Marking a check or scratching through something on my to-do list is like a natural high and toot of my horn. I feel like the queen of Wakanda and a champion of life.

Another tactic in maintaining this lifestyle is a balance of theoretical and actuals. I'm not a "life is bubbles and unicorns" type of girl, so I try to balance optimism and realism; myth and perfection. I ensure I don't battle my faith with actual natural abilities. Meaning, I love to look at numbers and I do believe numbers don't lie, however, I don't set my expectations of my abilities based on a reality of a situation. Everyone's maintenance is different but being a To-do List Calendar Junkie Optimistic Realist is how I maintain.

Remember to always unplug, meditate, give yourself props, self-analyze, prioritize, and above all let go of perfectionism.

Gabrielle Flowers Rader | Vlogger & Influencer

For me, work/life balance is kind of tricky since I work from home with my husband and the majority of our work stems from documenting everyday life. Starting the day with some form of "me time" is super important, whether it's heading to the gym for an early morning workout or taking the time to read a couple of devotionals and pray. When I allow myself to have that time, I can move through the day feeling more focused.

In order to amp up my productivity, I take the time to brain dump and make a list of all the things that need to be done. I then prioritize which tasks are truly important for the day and utilize time-blocking to make sure there is a space for them to actually get done. When you work from home, it helps to have designated times in place or else your day will just run together and you'll look up and wonder where the time went. To keep me in the mind frame of work, I set office hours and try to complete business tasks in my home office or a local coffee shop for a change of scenery.

Once the important tasks are complete, I switch gears and focus on spending quality time with my family without distractions.

To be completely honest, every day doesn't look like this. There are some days where I'm on it and then there are others where I struggle to get anything done. You can't give 100% to every single thing at the same time and that's okay. I often remind myself of that when I feel like I'm getting off track and then give myself grace to try again the next day.

Kristyn Alexis | Lifestyle YouTuber

I currently manage a YouTube channel of almost 150K subscribers, which is a part-time job, and I have a career in medical devices, so my life is crazy! I also have three kids – one in college and twins in elementary school.

Maintaining a good work-life balance starts with scheduling. I plan everything in advance from cooking to working on my channel. I recently obtained my certification in project management and had to scale back a lot, but I maintained to keep up by keeping my schedule. I also feel it's important to get lots of sleep and plan fun times.

Staying busy keeps me sane and happy, so while my crazy schedule works well for me, it wouldn't be suitable for everyone. My fiancé is also supportive of me doing as much as I do. That is critical to the success I have experienced in my life.

The last thing I think is important is staying scrappy (a term I learned while participating in a group called MLT – Management Leadership for Tomorrow). It means having a determined resolve to complete any task, and it has helped me to stay on track.

Overall, balance comes from prioritizing and support.