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D10 WAYS TOPOCKET READERS
10 WAYS TO - Series Overview

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The 10 WAYS TO series provides advice, skills, andstrategies to the readers for successfully negotiating
different aspects of life. Each book suggests 10 clear,
useful ways to the reader. The reader is encouraged
to critically reflect on the reading material and theirown lives in order to make any changes that would
benefit them.The series includes the following.
••••••••••

10 ways to achieve work-life balance
10 ways to be more productive
10 ways to manage money
10 ways to be successful in love
10 ways to be assertive
10 ways to be smart online
10 ways to be environmentally friendly
10 ways to be healthy
10 ways to work in a team
10 ways to organize a trip

DMore titles will appear in the series at a later date.

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Achieve Work-Life Balance

10 WAYS TOAchieve Work-Life Balance.... 4

1. Manage your time well.... 6SO A
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Introduction.... 8

3. Work better, work less...10

4. Make time for yourself... 125. Make time for your family and friends... 14

6. Learn to let things go... 16

7. Switch things off... 18

8. Exercise... 209. Do something you love... 22

10. Make changes... 24

Summary... 26

Reflection Questions... 28

Vocabulary in Context... 29Vocabulary List... 36D

2. Manage your work well3

10 WAYS TO

Introduction

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Most of us have to work. Studentswork to learn new things at school.
They do their homework. They study
to pass tests. Workers work to getmoney to pay for things. They work tohelp create things. They work to give aservice to others. They work to belong
to a team. They work to achieve goals.

DHowever, some of us work too much.
We get so busy that we forget to spend
time with our family and friends. Weforget to do our hobbies. We forget torelax. We forget to have any free time
and we forget how to enjoy it.
A good work-life balance means that
we divide our time carefully between

4Achieve Work-Life BalanceSO A
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H OT LAELI COCO PYwork and leisure. We may work orstudy hard, but we also have time to doother things in our lives. We make timeto go out with our family members.
We make time to see our friends. We
make time to travel, to play sport, or
to enjoy nature. We make time to sit
back and watch a movie.

DNow, stop and think for a moment
about your life. Are you always busy?
Do you work or study too hard? Do
you want to achieve a better work-lifebalance? Let’s look at ten ways thatyou can do this:5

10 WAYS TO

1. Manage your time wellDSO AN MP
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We all have 24 hours in one day. But
some people are able to do more with
their time than others. Think about
how you spend your day. Do you sit
there thinking about what to do? Do
you waste time? Or, do you get on
with the things you have to do? Youmay have lots of homework to do.
You may have many reports to writefor work. You may have to clean yourhouse, wash your clothes, and do thefood shopping. So, you need to manage your time well. Make two lists ofthe things you need to do. Put the mostimportant things on one list. Put thethings that are not very important ona second list. Do the most importantthings first. When you finish each one,6

Achieve Work-Life Balance

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cross it off your list. Soon, your list ofimportant things will be finished.
Now, read the list of not very important things. Do you really need to dothem? If yes, take a short break, andget them done quickly. If no, throw
the list away. Now, the rest of yourday is free. You can sit back, relax, andenjoy yourself.

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10 WAYS TO

2. Manage your work wellDSO AN MP
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We may have lots of work to do. But,
some people are able to do more workthan others. They don’t waste any time.
They make the most of their time atschool or at the office. They manage
their work well. At the beginning ofeach day, think about what you needto do. Set yourself time limits for thethings you have to do. Set yourself astart time. Set yourself a finish time.
Work to the time limit. Then, take ashort break! For example, you might
decide to start a report or some homework at 9:00 a.m. You think it willtake you 90 minutes to finish it. You
work hard for ninety minutes. And,you finish the report or homework at
10:30 a.m. Well done! You did it. Now,

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Achieve Work-Life Balance

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it is time to take a break. Relax! Go fora coffee. Take a walk outside. Close
your eyes and listen to some music.
But, don’t forget to start work again
after your break. Start the next thing
you have to do on time. Work hardand finish it. Then, you can take a second break.

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Reflection Questions

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1. Can you remember the 10 ways toachieve a good work-life balance? Test
yourself. If you forget any, go back, andread them again.
2. Do you do any of the 10 ways to achievea good work-life balance in your life? Ifso, which ones do you do?

3. How could you use any of the 10 ways
to achieve a good work-life balance inyour life?

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4. What do you think you will do differently in your life after reading thisbook?

5. Can you think of other ways to achievea good work-life balance?
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Achieve Work-Life Balance

Vocabulary in Context
1. Achieve

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• He had 10 reports to write. He worked
hard to achieve his goal.
• There are many things I want to achieve
in life. For example, I want to achieve agood score in my English class.
2. Balance• A good work-life balance means that we
divide our time carefully between workand leisure.
• I am trying to balance work and study. Itis very difficult.
• You should not study too much. You needto balance your study and your sleep.

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3. Leisure• A good work-life balance means that we
divide our time carefully between workand leisure.
• I study too hard. I want more leisure time.
• My favorite leisure activity is playing
tennis. I play it on the weekends.

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Vocabulary List
(Noun) to be equal on both sides or close to equal;a work-life balance, for example, is usually the aim
to have more leisure time and less work time.

Achieve:(Verb) to do something successfully; to finish agoal or reach an aim through hard work.

Leisure:(Noun) a time when someone is free from work;
leisure activities are the things people do during
their free time.

Waste:(Noun or Verb) to use something in a bad way; touse too much of something; a wrong or bad use ofsomething e.g. a waste of time, a waste of money.

List:(Noun or Verb) a short piece of writing that someone writes down, so they do not forget somethinge.g. a list of names, a shopping list; to write a list

Set:

(Verb) to decide or fix something e.g. a goal, a limit, a time.

Limit:(Noun) a number or amount that is enough or justright e.g. a time limit.

Productive:(Adjective) to do something quicker and / orbetter so it produces more or has better results; aproductive meeting, for example, may be short but
produce many good ideas and / or decisions.

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Balance:

Photocopier:(Noun) a machine that makes copies of papers
and documents. There are photocopiers in offices,schools, and libraries.

Stick to:(Phrasal verb) to continue to do something; to not
move or change something; to do something you
promised to do.

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