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Balancing a personal life with a career can be a lifelong struggle. Work obligations, stresses and interruptions can impinge on the time you spend with family, friends and pursuing your own interests. On the flip side, family and other personal obligations can interrupt work responsibilities and professional goals. Fortunately, the perfect work-life balance is not a myth. All it takes is some focused prioritizing and practical measures.
Prioritize Your Time – The first step in achieving the perfect work-life balance is deciding what is most important to you. If your goal is to spend more time with your family, you may need to cut back on work hours or delegate some responsibilities to your team members. If you feel like you’re neglecting your work, you may need to set aside more time for focused work. To do this, you may need to create a schedule that establishes specific times for work, exercise, family time and self-care. Stick to your schedule as much as possible to ensure you’re using your time effectively.
Practice Mindfulness – When your mind is pulled in two different directions, you can feel unfocused and unsettled. Instead, try to practice mindfulness, which allows you to be present in the moment and avoid distractions. Start by taking a few minutes each day to meditate or practice deep breathing. This will help you clear your mind and reduce stress. You can also take breaks throughout the workday to stretch, meditate or take a walk. This will help you stay focused and avoid burnout.
Carve Out Time for Self-Care – Self-care is an essential component of the perfect work-life balance. Consider scheduling it into your daily routine so you never forget to incorporate it into your day. Self-care can include anything that relaxes and recharges you, like exercise, reading or spending time with friends and family.
Be Flexible – Life is unpredictable, and you’ll inevitably face unexpected challenges and responsibilities. To be flexible, learn to adapt to changes in your schedule or plans. Be willing to adjust your priorities when necessary, and don’t be too hard on yourself if things don’t go exactly as planned.
Follow these tips to achieve that elusive work-life balance.
Survey scams are almost as old as the internet. Spend an hour online and there’s a chance you’ll run into an ad for a “quick” survey promising big money or prizes for a few minutes of your time. What really happens is that the scammer walks away with a free survey, or worse, your information or money. The wary consumer can spot a survey scam, but unfortunately, fraudsters are becoming more sophisticated at luring victims into their schemes. Don’t fall for it!
Here are seven ways to spot a survey scam:
1. You’re asked to pay to participate in a survey – There’s no reason to pay to take a survey. If you’re targeted by an ad asking you to take a survey and pay for the privilege of doing so, it’s not worth it – and probably designed to scam you.
2. You’re asked to share sensitive info before you can take the survey – The survey host wants you to think it’s no big deal for you to share your Social Security number with a company you’ve never heard of before. But guess what – you’re looking at potential identity theft. That IS a big deal!
3. They advertise on Craigslist and similar sites asking for your email address – “Survey companies” that advertise on sites like Craigslist asking you to share your email address are usually fronts for scam rings. Once they have this information, they’ll spam you with scammy emails, phishing schemes, malware or worse.
4. They offer too much money – If a survey is offering you $100 for a 20-question survey that shouldn’t take you more than five minutes to complete, you can be sure you’re looking at a scam. The pay for authentic survey-taking is generally on a much more modest scale.
5. You’re directed to download attachments – Any time an unknown contact asks you to download attachments to your device, be super-suspicious. More often than not, these are scams and the attachments are loaded with malware.
6. They advertise aggressively – If the same solicitation for survey participation keeps popping up across your screen, you may be looking at a scam.
7. They require an outrageous minimum before payment – Scammers sometimes require their targets to take an outrageous number of surveys before they receive their first paycheck. Often, the victim will just quit before they qualify for a payment.
Survey-taking can be a great way to earn some pocket money, but survey scams are rampant. Follow these tips to stay safe!
