Take control of your work-life balance
“If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.” — Jim Rohn
Work-life balance is not an alien phrase for anyone. In the post-pandemic world, when many corporations had numerous false starts of going back to the office, work-life balance was one of the top benefits everyone called out for staying back at home. But what does work-life balance mean? Is it actually about balancing two equal forces?
In this article, I will be discussing what work-life balance means to me and what are some of the misconceptions associated with it.
Prerequisite
You cannot discuss work-life balance before having a clear understanding of what is deeply important to you in life. What are your principles and values in life? Is your life progressing in the right direction? If you haven’t gotten it defined, let us do that right now.
The second habit of highly effective people according to Stephen Covey (from his famous book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”) is all about the importance of understanding your values and principles. He recommends preparing a personal mission statement that focuses on what you want to be (character) and to do (contributions & achievement) and on the values and principles upon which your actions are based. The personal mission statement when laid out becomes the personal constitution for an individual, the basis for making major, life-changing as well as daily decisions. As you grow in your life and your roles change in your life, you need to keep on revising your mission statement.
Definition
To some, work-life balance means convenience and flexibility. For example, if you are working from home, you can manage most of your tasks without impacting your work. You can run a quick errand, go to a doctor’s appointment, work out, and take care of your sick child, all while doing your ‘work’. You fill these tasks into the small gaps during the work day. But one shouldn’t mistake convenience and flexibility for balance.
There are other definitions too for work-life balance. Jeff Bezos in this video talks about ‘work-life harmony’. He hints that work and life are equal and should complement each other. A similar definition I have seen going around is work-life integration. Imagine you checking your Slack messages and providing updates to your team while you are away with your kids at the park. Nowadays technology and collaborative tools help us to integrate work into our lives well without needing to be physically present in the office. But is this work-life balance? This is nothing but work intruding into all aspects of your personal time more than anything else.
It is also important to note that there are studies that show that people work more hours when working from home. On average, you add nearly an hour a day when working from home due to various reasons such as compensating for the time lost during back-to-back meetings, distractions, and not being able to unplug from work easily.
So how do you define work-life balance then? One key factor that is missing in all the above definitions according to me is — TIME. You cannot have a balance between work and life if you don’t have control over the time you allot for work. Studies have shown that the ideal work hours is 39 hours per week. Various studies suggest that spending long hours at work will do more harm than good. A Stanford University study shows that productivity slows after working 50 hours per week. And more time spent at work means less time spent on other personal priorities.
So here is my definition of work-life balance — it is the balance achieved by spending only the ‘required’ amount of time for work leaving enough ‘time’ to dedicate to priorities outside work. In other words, don’t work too much, it is that simple! If you have a good work-life balance, it is going to improve your physical well-being, emotional well-being, and creativity.
Implementation
It is important to note that achieving balance between your personal and professional life is not a one-time fix, but rather requires continuous commitment to the efforts I am going to describe below. This is a 3-step process.
Stop and Reflect
Take a step back and reflect on your life situation right now. Ask the following questions -
What am I sacrificing currently? What impact it has on my personal life?
What regrets do I currently have? What regrets I would have in the future if I continue on the current path?
What are my priorities currently? Are these completely mine, or someone else’s?
What is currently causing me stress? Does work take all the energy out of me?
Getting into a routine of retrospection is key to maintaining a work-life balance. This gives us time to truly assess our situation and ensure we are on the right track. This gives you a good picture of what sacrifices you have been making and what alternatives you have for working and living.
Reprioritize
If you don’t have a work-life balance currently, it is time to adjust some of your current priorities. Ask yourself the following questions,
Do my priorities align with my true priorities in life (based on the personal mission statement you prepared above)?
If not, why do I feel that it is important to prioritize this way? What will I lose if I reprioritize?
When was the last time I used my creativity at work? Am I doing work that is redundant and can be easily designated?
Understanding what you are not is equally important as what you are. Process of elimination techniques can be used in identifying what adjustments you need to make to your priorities. Consider all alternatives you have in front of you before jumping into solutions.
Make the change
So you took time to stop and reflect and identify your priorities. The last step in the path to work-life balance is to take necessary action. The high-level changes you can implement are the following.
Time Management: Identify the tasks that are less urgent and less important for you. Either designate or eliminate these tasks if possible. It would be best if you were spending time on tasks that needed your involvement. Find ways where you are most productive without spending long hours at work.
Set boundaries and say ‘No’ when required: Introduce small changes to your work style such as setting your work hours on your calendar so that your team knows when you are available (contrary to the always ‘on’ expectation remote work brings). You should also be cognizant of your workload so that you can push back on your stakeholders when they bring a new project without reprioritizing the current list of projects. If you are convinced, don’t even hesitate to say ‘no’ to your current role or job.
Plan time for yourself and your loved ones: While you plan your work effectively, it is equally important to make deliberate plans for yourself and your loved ones. For example, plan your weekends with your kids and spouse with tasks that are important to your family. Most of the time we take it for granted, and waste time resulting in regrets, which have cascading impacts.
Take breaks: Sometimes completely unplugging from work is what we need. This study shows that more than half of employees in the US reported having unused vacation time at the end of the year. We often fall into the trap that vacation would disrupt our workflows, preventing us from taking much-deserved time off. With proper planning, you can take time away without any worries.
Conclusion
All the steps I mentioned above are not a one-time activity. You need to constantly dedicate your time to stop and reflect, reprioritize, and make necessary changes to maintain the balance you need in your personal and professional life.