What do you want out of life? Do you want personal wealth? A happy family? A fulfilling career? A lot of awards and recognition for your achievements?

Is it possible to have it all? The answer is “Yes, as long as you balance your personal and your professional lives”.

All of us have multiple personalities. There is the person who interacts with their family and friends. Then there is the academic who strives to get good grades. There’s the romantic who tries to attract a mate. Then there is the person who pursues excellence in their career. While all of these personalities have unique and distinct qualities, they all stem from the same mind.

Finding balance between work and play, home and career, the people we love and the people we aim to please, this is what a successful and satisfied life is all about.

Here, then, are seven ways to balance your personal and professional lives.

Work Isn’t Everything
“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” is an expression you probably have heard about. We all know people who throw their lives into their work, spending more time behind their desk or on the phone with clients than they do talking to their children or spending time relaxing with their friends.

For some, this is the ideal: Constantly chasing after more money, the next deal, the better opportunity. And while ambition is certain and important factor to success, it’s not the only factor. Spending too much time and energy focused on your career or business is never a good idea because it can come at too high a cost: The deterioration of your interpersonal relationships.

Nobody’s last words on their death bed have ever been, “I wish I had spent more time at work.” Strive for balance between work and your personal life and you will feel more fulfilled, successful and satisfied.

Family and Friends Aren’t Everything, Either
While spending too much time and attention on your work isn’t a good idea, neither is going to the other extreme: Not spending enough time at work and focusing too much on your personal life.

It’s a rough world out there and nobody is just going to hand it to you for nothing. Spoiler Alert: You are never going to win the lottery. Instead, the only way to get ahead financially and to have a successful career is to work hard at it. You can make time for your family, friends, and having fun, but make sure it is balanced with hard work, determination, and a high-quality work ethic.

The Things You Eat, Drink and Smoke Can Kill You
Most young people have a metabolism that allows them to eat and drink anything they like and still look great, have a lot of energy, and feel positive and outgoing all the time. But something physiological happens sometime in the late 20s to early 30s that changes all this.

Suddenly, not being careful about what you eat can cause you to start packing on pounds and being out of breath all the time. Smoking cigarettes can make it hard to breathe. And drinking too much can leave you feeling lousy for days afterwards.

Part of learning how to balance your personal and professional life is finding balance in the choices you make about the things you eat, drink and smoke. There comes a point when it’s time to put away your childish things and start acting – and thinking – like a grown up.

Networking Matters
There’s an old saying in business that goes, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”. This is as true today as when it was first uttered. Business is all about connections, regardless of what field you are in. And although you may often find yourself in a competitive situation, it’s rarely a true competition. You have as much to learn from your competitors as you do from your customers, your staff, or the experiences you have on the job.

Regardless of what kind of community you do business in – whether it’s online or in the real world – it pays to get to know the other players within your industry. Go to social functions, attend trade shows, collect business cards, and pick up the phone and call people just to say hello and build relationships. All of these things will pay off in the long run.

Now, three quick ones:
Learn to Relax
Tension, stress and anxiety are the number one killers among ambitious business people. Find something you like to do that relaxes you and spend as much free time as possible doing that.
Be Nice to People on the Up …

There’s another old saying that is still very apt for today’s business people: “Be nice to people on the way up the ladder because you are going to meet the same people on the way down.”

Enjoy What You Do
If you love what you do, then you will never work another day in your life. That’s because what most people call “work”, you will call “living the dream life”.

Author Bio – This guest post is a work of Ronald Baxter in support of Servcorp. If you're on the lookout to run your business professionally without the costs of a traditional office space, virtual offices from Servcorp would be the perfect choice.