For years, I’ve heard a lot about work-life balance, whether it’s how to protect your personal life from the encroachment of work demands or to embrace the blur between the lines of work and home.
But Michael Carroll approached work balance differently in the December issue of Mindful magazine. The business coach and author of Awake At Work suggested five ways to create balance at work, making work a more pleasant environment as an important part of our lives instead of only something to be shoved back to make room for life.
His tips include:

1. Train your mind — practicing meditation will help you learn self awareness and self regulation, so you can be a calmer person at work.
2. Learn the art of feedback — giving and receiving feedback in a respectful way helps us succeed and helps improve the emotional environment
3. Model respect and trust — we earn trust through respect, so start by showing others respect even in conflict
4. Show appreciation — just like your mom probably taught you, say thank you, and don’t take others for granted
5. Make friends with conflict — if you expect that conflict is just part of human relationships, you might not be as upset when it naturally happens, which can lead to tension, defensiveness or passive aggressiveness, and instead, work through it in a positive way

I would love to link to the full article, which also includes four tips for detoxifying conflicts, but Mindful didn’t post it online. Instead, you can check out these five tips for practicing mindfulness at home.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5aetBlu0_8]