Be it boom time or bust we need to make a crust. For many of us work takes a very large proportion of our time and energy. Indeed for some there is a risk of becoming entirely absorbed by work and in so doing lose the rest of their lives.

Getting the right balance between work and the rest of your life is crucial to both the quality of your life and also your sustainable performance at work.

Everybody has different needs so the first step in finding your balance is to figure out what your priorities are. Consider what matters most to you. Then continue to add the next things that matters most until you have your penultimate list of valuables.

With what’s worthy of your attention defined, the trick is to split your time amongst these interests and, when present, attend fully to each of them as though they were the only important one.

Having made this concrete list of what really matters to you, you may discover you've been devoting too much time to activities that aren't a priority, and that your schedule requires some adjustment. With a clear purpose, time wasters like TV are seen for what they are and jettisoned accordingly.

Another behaviour that brings about balance is to protect your private time. Just as you’re on time for work, be sure to pay the same respect to your private life. You can turn the phone and email off. Things will generally be OK til the next working day.

To reinforce this prioritisation that your private life deserves, get a little bit organised. Put private appointments in the diary just as you would the ones for work. Institutionalise events like weekly family dinners so you know not too double book.

If your life were a dog with only one leg it would be a very agitated exhausted beast that was prone to toppling over. Add to your life a few more legs and maybe a tail for wagging. Then you’ll be sufficiently balanced to continue running far and fast.

Martin Hunter Jones is an honorary life member of the Australian Counselling Association. He has a Counselling and Hypnotherapy practice on the Northern Beaches. For appointments call 9973 4997.