“The challenge of work-life balance is without question of the most significant struggles faced by modern man.”
Stephen Covey
Why should we care about a healthy work/life balance? What does life balance even mean?
According to Harold Taylor Time Consultants:
“Life balance means a blend of work and personal life that is satisfying to the individual and his or her family or significant others”.
So the first thing to think about is life balance may look like one thing to you but something different to the significant people in your life. Just because working twelve hour days may feel great to you, it may not be working out so well for your family members. If you’re excited to work all day and into the night on new projects, but you’re missing your kids’ activities, this may not be balanced. Finding a balance could mean you need to have a heart-to-heart discussion with the significant people in your life to work and live in a way that created harmony for everyone involved.
Having a healthy life balance may include more energy, less stress, more realationship harmony and less chances of burnout and improved productivity.
Let’s look at five components of life balance from the book, “Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas” by James Patterson.
Work
Work is like a rubber ball, if you drop it, it will bounce back. Work is important, it pays the bills and helps us help others, but it is an area of our lives that we can usually recover from if something goes sideways. Simple examples:
*A forgotten email
*A negative review
*A mistake
Certainly, we want to do our best but not at the cost of the next four components because they are made of glass. If you drop these, they can shatter forever.
Family
When you don’t have that comfortable balance of work and time with family, your family can start to resent your work or your career. You may miss opportunities to connect as well as small moments in your children’s lives. Some people even use work to avoid problems at home. When those problemes are not resolved, it can lead to trouble in the marriage or even divorce.
Health
If you don’t have good health, it can affect every aspect of your life in a negative way. Giving up proper sleep and exercise is often the first thing to go when we aren’t balanced and trying to get too much done. Proper sleep will give you more energy and allow you to work more productively. Proper exercise will give you more energy, improve your mood and is good for many different bodily functions and a healthy heart.
It’s important to eat healthy and drink clean water for energy and balanced blood sugar levels. Not taking care of yourself can have serious consequences like illness, stroke, cancer or even death.
Friends
If you don’t take time for friend by getting that cup of coffee together, going out for wine or dinner, sending birthday wishes, etc., you may find yourself lonely if they feel the friendship is one sided. Eventually, you may bring your head up and out of your work to find you are alone.
Integrity
I had never thought about integrity before when thinking of work/life balance. I just take having integrity as a part of life for granted. But, if you’re so off balance that you start to take shortcuts or maybe tell some white lies, you can lose the trust of friends, family and business contacts.
Wrap Up
Be sure to check in with the people in your life who are important and make sure you strike a balance with your work, your own self-care and the time you spend with significant others. It may mean compromise but a healthier and happier way of living for all involved.
“It’s all about quality of life and finding a happy balance between work and friends and family.”
Philip Green
