Work-life balance - part 1
In my last article I mentioned that I would attempt to explore the idea of work-life balance in more depth.
In many ways, trying to achieve better work-life balance is nothing new. I’m confident that people have been trying to achieve a balance between the time they spend working and focusing on their personal lives for decades. However, the idea of this has perhaps achieved greater prominence in recent years as the workplace focus on mental health has grown.
Whilst it appears to be a simple concept, dig a little deeper, and the meaning of work-life balance becomes more complex. No two people are the same, nor are their work and personal circumstances. For example, some people dedicate their entire adult lives to business success and achievement, possibly neglecting their families in the process, while others lament not being able to spend more time with family and friends. And some make a concerted effort to never let their jobs overtake other aspects of their lives and relationships. None of these approaches is necessarily wrong. It is a very personal thing.
So, my intention when writing about work-life balance is not to preach, but to present it from my personal viewpoint and experience. The reader can decide whether any of my thoughts and ideas are useful and could apply to their circumstance and situation.
There is too much to write about in a single article, so I shall keep my thoughts reasonably brief in each article and try to focus on just one or two aspects of work-life balance.
Trying to start from the beginning, I am making the rather broad assumption that most people are not entirely happy with their work-life balance, especially in the fast-paced world of our modern lives. Over the years I have often heard colleagues and friends expressing frustration over not having enough time to do everything they need or want to do, both at work and in their personal lives.
The most important point I want to make today is that if one wants to start looking at how to achieve better work-life balance, the first step is to acknowledge this intention explicitly. I know this has a hint of an AA 12-step plan, but in all seriousness, if you want to make any significant change, you need to admit that things aren’t great as they are and make a commitment to doing something about it. In my view you should tell people that you are going to change things, which creates an onus for change. If you don’t do this, it is so easy to let things carry on just as they have always done.
The next step is to put into words what you want to change. If your current work/life balance is “A”, then what do you want “B” to look like? If you don’t make this change specific, then I have my doubts that it is going to work. You need to know what your target or destination is otherwise you risk going on a random journey that could take you anywhere.
Finally, once you’ve worked out what you want your future work-life balance to look like, you need to set out specific steps for how you are going to achieve that, call it a roadmap if you like. To use a bit of a cliched example, most people setting out on a long road journey will have a plan for how they aim to reach their destination. They will have a map or set up their Satnav before they depart. They will ensure their vehicle is suitably reliable and fueled. Their luggage will be packed. Most likely they will have an idea of how long the journey will take and where they plan to have rests and refuel. A roadmap for success is a lot like this. To be brutally honest, if you don’t have a very specific plan for what you’re aiming to achieve, it is very likely you won’t get there. In business terms, this process is often called setting SMART objectives – your roadmap, if you like, needs to be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound.
Next time I plan to go into more detail about my personal experience of trying to achieve better work-life balance, using examples of what I have tried to do over the years.