Work-Life Balance
Work-Life Balance has become one of the most talked about topics for today’s working professionals. For everyone work-life balance means a different thing so it is difficult to define it.
Wikipedia defines it as “Work–life balance is a concept including proper prioritizing between “work” (career and ambition) and “lifestyle” (health, pleasure, leisure, family and spiritual development/meditation).“
Let’s also define what work-life balance is not.
Work-Life Balance does not mean spending just an equal amount time at work and outside of it. Trying to schedule an equal number of hours for each of your various work and personal activities is usually unrewarding and unrealistic. Life is and should be more fluid than that.
Your best individual work-life balance will vary over time, often on a daily basis. The right balance for you today will probably be different for you tomorrow. The right balance for you when you are single will be different when you marry, or if you have children; when you start a new career versus when you are nearing retirement.
There is no perfect, one-size fits all, balance you should be striving for. The best work-life balance is different for each of us because we all have different priorities and different lives.
However, at the core of an effective work-life balance definition are two key everyday concepts that are relevant to each of us. They are daily Achievement and Enjoyment, ideas almost deceptive in their simplicity. Understanding a fuller meaning of these two concepts takes us most of the way to defining a positive Work-Life Balance. Achievement and Enjoyment answer the big question “Why?” Why do you want a better income…a new house…the kids through college…to do a good job today…to come to work at all?
Most of us already have a good grasp on the meaning of Achievement. But let’s explore the concept of Enjoyment a little more. As part of a relevant Work-Life Balance definition, enjoyment does not just mean “Ha-Ha” happiness. It means Pride, Fulfillment, Happiness, Celebration, Love, A Sense of Well Being …all the Joys of Living.
Achievement and Enjoyment are the front and back of the coin of value in life. You can’t have one without the other, no more than you can have a coin with only one side. Trying to live a one sided life is why so many “Successful” people are not happy, or not nearly as happy as they should be.
Something worth thinking about?
In case you are struggling with work-life balance for some time and it is negatively affecting your health, relationship with spouse and children, your overall well-being and leaving you frustrated each day then better to seek external support such as a Life Coach or a Counselor to bring your life back on track.
Credit: This article is inspired by an article on the same topic written by Jim Bird, CEO of worklifebalance.com
