When one maintains a balance between his personal and professional life, the phenomenon is called Work-Life Balance. This expression holds worth a lot because it is very crucial to have a balance between personal and professional life. Work life balance is at the forefront of the world of work.
You’ve probably heard the adage that money can’t buy happiness but not having money certainly doesn’t buy happiness either. Your job obviously provides you with income, but no job is worth throwing away your personal life for.
At the end of the day, if your job requires you to work long hours and weekends that disrupt your personal life, you might either need to figure out how to get the proper work-life balance or decide if this is the right job for you.
So is work-life balance a myth or an achievable goal? My take is that if you are willing to set some boundaries that work for you, get organized and do what you do best, you can not only achieve work-life balance but be a much more successful leader.
When moving through the stage of having to fend for oneself, and then evolving to care for children, all of the numerous sudden responsibilities enter one’s life, and then we’re confronted with the challenge of Managing Work Life Balance.
The balance between work and life can be a tenuous one, but your long-term happiness and health depend on it. No job is worth ignoring your personal life for.
Work must stay in perspective. You cannot allow it to take over your entire life unless you are a nun. It is easy to get into the mindset of always working, with the promise to start living once you reach a certain goal. Unfortunately, you will always find another goal to reach.
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Procrastinating – Procrastinating is the main reason why many people are not as productive as they should, as such you need to take charge of your life and stop this habit before you are faced with endless tasks which are boring. Since you will most likely not escape from doing that work, you are better off just to get it done and out of the way.
You have to start living immediately, as you read this. You will need lots of self-awareness to fully live in the present. This is not easy in our society. You will find yourself eating, drinking, shopping, and working to keep yourself distracted from what is going on inside of you. It can be scary to even think of taking a look in there.
To find life balance, you are going to have to be aware of your inner needs. You have an internal compass, and it will tell you when you need to cuddle with your spouse, play with your kids, have a nap, etc. Being disconnected is easy and accepted in our society. Reconnecting with others requires the discomfort of being vulnerable and open. This connection is essential to being happy.
You must also get connected with yourself. Regardless of how much time you spend alone, you probably find yourself totally cut off from your inner world. Your brain will usually override your inner compass with a whole host of things you ‘should’ be doing. Even if you do something else, the guilt you feel keeps you from really enjoying it.
The best way to maintain a good work-life balance is to make a severe disconnect between the two. Set boundaries for yourself. Maybe after your commute home, you turn off your office phone or manipulate your phone settings to stop sending you notifications from that account for a certain length time.
Yes, the work will be there when you go to the office in the morning, but honestly, if your brain doesn’t get a chance to recharge and recoup after a long day at work, you’re headed towards “burnout.” Studies reveal that the workers who check their email more often than their peers also rank highest in experiencing anxiety. Slow down in increments. Today I’ll check my email every twenty minutes, then next week every thirty. Please give yourself time to recharge.
You won’t realize how trustworthy your internal director is unless you can let go of your ‘shoulds.’ Until you stop ‘should’ all over yourself, you will find yourself out of work life balance.
Look for ways to improve your time management and organizational skills and don’t procrastinate.
Don’t make things more complicated than they need to be. Hope it will help.