Many people think that you have to work a lot to get anywhere, so it's not surprising that they often feel burned out or have trouble finding fulfillment.

It's important to find a balance between the time you spend on work responsibilities and the time you spend on personal ones. But each person might see this in a different way. Some professionals try to find a work-life balance, while others try to integrate their work and personal lives. The two terms are similar, but not the same.

One of our best tips for balancing work and life may surprise you: There is no such thing as work-life balance. There is no separation between work and life.

What Is Work-Life Integration?

Integrating work and life means balancing both personal and professional obligations. Instead of seeing work and free time as two separate things, busy professionals can find ways to combine the two. This could mean doing chores around the house while on a conference call or bringing kids to work when schools are closed.

Flexibility is the best thing about balancing work and life. When employees can plan their schedules and responsibilities well, they are more likely to be happy in all parts of their lives. On the other hand, studies have shown those boundary violations, which happen when work and personal life mix, can also lead to bad things. When the balance between work and life is off, employees may feel less satisfied and less productive in both areas.

Discover Your Purpose 

You can find your mission by asking yourself some questions such as the following examples:

• What are your strongest soft skills? What about practical abilities?
• What are some things that come quickly to you?
• What is one project that kept you up way past your bedtime because you were having so much fun working on it?
• Do you need a productivity boost?
• What is it that other people consider you to be an authority on? Could you benefit from performance coaching?
• Do you know how to say no?
• Do you have a profound understanding of a specific topic or field?
• Do you frequently find that members of your family and friends seek your guidance on various issues?
• How about a skill that is highly sought after and in demand, or a personality attribute that people in your life have always found to be helpful?

Shift Your Focus 

Once you’re absolutely clear on your goal for your life, don’t allow anything to distract you. Take a modest step every day toward reaching your ambition. Set little goals that ladder up to your overarching vision, and always include your family, volunteer, work, or social time - whatever the “life” component of work and life balance is for you. When you have the plan to merge work and life, you’ll find it all seems to fall into place.

One of the most important ways to strike a balance between work and personal life is to concentrate on your goals. If you let that nasty coworker get to you, or if you get home from work fuming at the person who cut you off in traffic, you won't be feeling very grounded. When you can’t regulate your emotions, you can’t be your best self at work or at home.

Priming and maintaining a gratitude journal are just two practices that can help you maintain a good outlook and consistently move forward with your plans. Visualize where you want to be and the universe will find out how to get you there.