Work-Life Balance. A concept that has always intrigued me. Is work separate from life? Does this imply that when you work there is no life and therefore life is restricted to the times you aren’t working? Or is this some form of balance between the time spent earning your living and actually living?
Life, I am sure you agree, has many parts. Everyone can define these parts in their own way, but I like to define it as being about (in no order):
- your health (physical and mental)
- your relationships (with family and others)
- your work or how you earn a living
- your interests and hobbies
- your connect with the spiritual or your exploration within
- your giving back to society and
- your financial well-being or how you plan for your goals and achieve them
Every person will have their own mix of these elements based on their stage of life, their life circumstances and the choices they make. Some are able to combine elements, such as their interest with how they earn a living.
Looked at this way, work is one part of life. Some people may choose to spend much more of their time on it because they really enjoy it. That’s a matter of personal choice. They would do well to try and build other aspects of their life as well as they run the risk of feeling a sense of vacuum when they stop working. Others may find their equilibrium in some other combination of the elements above. What is important is to find a balance amongst all these elements to find your own equilibrium, your happy zone. In that sense, its not about work-life balance, but the overall balance you find in your life that really matters, isn’t it? And doesn’t that depend on the choices we make?
How do we bring more consciousness to the choices we make? One way that I have found useful is by making a personal plan covering these elements (or however else you may choose to define the elements that matter to you) with goals for those that you would like to make progress on in, say, the year ahead. And then, like any plan, reviewing this at regular intervals to see where you are doing well and where you may have fallen behind. This is one way of consciously working towards the balance in your life that you desire and that allows you to live your life fully and purposefully.
I would be delighted to hear your views and your methods to find the optimal balance in your life.
