ow do you give your all at work and at home? To begin with, don’t give your all in either, you will become exhausted. You can be a great parent and a great employee without giving 100 percent of everything you have at both. If you do, you may be setting yourself up for failure. Here are a few quick tips on how to balance work and family time:

Schedule in Breaks -
Find a moment, a spot in between the time you wake up and go through your morning routine, to the time you arrive to work and dedicate it to yourself. Do the same for your return home. Whether that is the time you are on the bus or train, before you get in the car, while sitting in traffic, or before you walk into the office – do something rewarding for yourself so you can reward your co-workers and family with your full attention.

Schedule in Fun and Work -
Set a time when it would be okay with the family for you to do work when you won’t be missed. As a reward, you can schedule in times like after school or a dedicated regular family activity night (e.g. game night, bowling, tossing a ball, tickle fights, etc.). The promise and consistency of the family activity night will establish for all (even your employer) that you are focused on this time with your family.

Take Shortcuts -
Shortcuts are everywhere in life, you just need to know how to spot and properly apply them. If you find yourself spending a lot of time with household chores, take some shortcuts such as doing twice as much laundry every other day rather than laundry every day. Start getting the kids involved in chores as well. The sooner you are done with chores, the faster you can get down to the business of having fun with and enjoying your family.

Create Boundaries -
Let people know your time vs. their time. Make it known that your computer or PDA is turned off at precisely 6:00 p.m. so that the day’s work can be completed and any new issues will be addressed in the morning. Create the boundary within yourself of what is more important at 6:30 p.m., getting to the end of your unread e-mail or using the last half-hour of daylight to play with the kids. Similarly, tell your family they may not interrupt you during work hours unless it is a true emergency.

Multitask -
You can do family and home-related tasks while at work, and work-related tasks at home, within reason. If you are leaving the dinner table to go do work, or worse, working at the dinner table, your absence will be felt. If you take calls from your spouse and children while at work, you will seem scattered and unfocused. What you can do is do some housekeeping (such as pay bills) and plan family activities online without monopolizing your company’s time. This means more actual family time when you are home. If a little work needs to be done at home, family time should come first. Stick to your regular homecoming routine and escape for a half-hour later when you are less likely to be missed.

Sacrifice -
If you have a favorite past time that your family does not particularly enjoy, you may need to make a compromise to trade in your pastime for one which the entire family enjoys. Ultimately, the payoff will be very rewarding.