wanting work life balance
People often talk about wanting work-life balance, but it’s not necessarily what they’re really seeking. The concept itself is fundamentally unachievable. The notion of work life-balance implies that we have this perfect scale always in-sync between our personal and professional responsibilities. It conjures up an image of someone working from home on their laptop with a child on their lap. However, that’s just compromise.
Is Your Work Life Balance Concept working?
For many, the concept of what a perfectly balanced professional and personal life looks like often leads to sub par outcomes, disappointment and frustrations because it’s based on time allocation and trying to do too many things at once. In trying too hard to ‘balance’ their schedule, they are checking off the boxes, but not getting the best outcomes due to an approach that is quantitative versus qualitative.
Make the balance meaningful
Rather than balance, what we really want is the ability to be truly present in our work and our lives outside work. We’re seeking meaningful, uninterrupted experiences at each end of the work/life spectrum, which will naturally cycle at different times. There often won’t be balance within a week or day and hours aren’t the determinant of quality.
Work Life integration
In the end, the goal is not ‘balance’ in the traditional sense. It’s a life that lets you integrate those pieces. Work life integration is more akin to a puzzle where all the different pieces fit together in aggregate. It’s an understanding that each day or week might bring a different combination of things at work or in your personal life, but they total a portfolio of quality experiences. It’s not about the time itself, it’s about being fully present and engaged in each of the pieces.
For the next week, try and measure your success at home and at work by the amount of quality, uninterrupted experiences you have, rather than trying to find an unachievable balance. You will feel more satisfied and accomplished all around.
To understand better how you can achieve this, get in touch with Halo Trade Group for a no obligation chat.
