Work Life Balance
What exactly is work/life balance?
What do we mean by Work Life balance ?
•Equal balance between work and personal activities ?
X
Life is and should be more fluid than that.
•Is it same for everyone ? …
X
Varies from individual to individual, and varies over time…
on a daily basis as well over different phases of life
There is no perfect, one-size fits all solution.
The best work-life balance is different for each of us because we all
have different priorities and different lives.
Imagine…
You have to give yourself
PERMISSION to have more
integration between your
professional work and personal life
So what exactly is Work- life balance ?
Revolves around two key everyday concepts relevant to each of us
•Daily Achievement
•Enjoyment
Not mere "Ha-Ha". It means Pride, Satisfaction, Happiness, Celebration,
Love, and A Sense of Well Being
… ideas almost deceptive in their simplicity, yet so relevant to all
These two concepts are like the front and back of the coin of value in life.
Do you know any "Successful" people who’re not as happy as they should be ?
Defining Work- life balance ?
Life will deliver the value and balance we desire ...when we achieve and
enjoy something every single day...in all the important areas that make up
our lives.
Hence, a good working definition of Work-Life Balance is:
Meaningful daily Achievement and Enjoyment in
each of the four life quadrants:
FRIENDS
SELF
FAMILY
WORK
The Mathematician's View
A balanced life is one where we spread our energy and effort - emotional,
intellectual, imaginative, spiritual and physical – between key areas of
importance.
The Analyst View
A wheel has spokes to ensure its strength and balance. Unequal spokes
can make the ride very bumpy, or completely break down
How do you define your own work life
balance?
• What are your Values?
– What’s important to you?
– What makes you happy ?
– What did you write down earlier?
• What are the Barriers?
– time, stress, dual career family, lack of support from family,
supervisor, peers
Work
Relationship
s
Self-Care
Work Life Triangle
• Work ( what we do, careers, housework, chores,
etc)
• Relationships (personal, friendships, partners,
spouses, children
• Self-Care (spiritual, physical, intellectual, emotional,
health, wellness, exercise)
How do you achieve Balance?
• Its all in what you think and say to yourself.
• Robert Ellis – Rational Emotive Therapy A, B, C’s of cognitive
therapy
–“If I continue to think as I have always
thought, I will continue to act as I have
always acted. If I continue to act as I have
always acted, I will continue to get what I
have always gotten.”
• Change the thought, changes the behavior and leads to a new
consequence
• Practice, Practice, Practice,
Work Life Triangle - Work
Work is not where you go
but what you do
John Chambers
So how do we go about achieving the Work-Life
Balance ?
No cookie cutter solution.
Each person has his/ her own formula defining the composition of career,
family, friends and self into their integrated whole.
Dream
When people's lives are out of balance they are unable to identify the obvious
options for themselves and their families
Be Selfish Yourself First
U are no good to anyone if U yourself are indisposed
Focus on whatever u are doing.
Maximize your productivity at work and don’t let unfinished business carry over
into your personal time.
Always put in your best effort.. Even if its not your core competence
Be Organized.
Disorganisation is the theft of time.
Try to manage your day, instead of having the day manage you.
Make lists.
Use technologies like PDA to offload the stress of remembering
Prioritize.
Lists invariably become lengthy. Identify those which contribute towards a
balance between work and life
Don't procrastinate.
Why invite stress to build up. It is only a compounding multiplier leading you in
one direction only
Be flexible.
Change is imminent. Those who accept this and work around change are the
most productive, best-adjusted individuals
Plan, but do not run your life on a time table. Its important to prioritise, but
be mindful that nothing is static.
Don't be a slave to your e-mail or to phone calls
With Technological advances … peoples expectation of response has risen
proportionately.
The need to be needed is addictive
One needs 'downtime' to refresh mentally, emotionally or physically.
Know your weakness and strengths
Improve your skills as necessary to enhance your productivity and reduce your
stress.
Be forgiving, especially of yourself.
You are human. You will make mistakes and fall short of the ideal, including your
own.
Don't wallow in guilt. Learn from your mistakes.
Set boundaries and learn to say no.
Being a good employee, spouse, parent, and friend doesn't mean blindly giving
into everyone else's demands and spending all your time and energy doing for
others as they dictate.
Work Life Triangle Relationships
Team
• Chose the right team members,
better than yourself … invest time in
the process
• Know your team members,
colleagues & supervisors … their
strengths and weakness. Leverage
their strengths, and provide support
in their areas of weakness
• Monitor (not manage) initial
engagements .. Just like a life guard
monitors new swimmers
• Trust them and delegate … make
yourself dispensable, so that u can
play a larger role in strategic
initiatives and career development
of team members
Don’t try to soldier along on your own without asking for help … it
can only result in a sense of isolation, martyrdom and exhaustion.
Work Life Triangle – Self Care
Take time for yourself. This may sound difficult for people who believe they
are in very responsible position … who think they are indispensable.
Find opportunities within the busy work schedule
Take more Frequent though short breaks
Establish good, supportive relationships, both at work and home.
Give up the hesitation of knowing your colleagues better.
Its important to foster real teamwork and create an environment in which
employees respect and are willing to assist each other.
Children frequently enjoy being a useful member of the family - especially if
they understand the importance of it.
Try the Home working (tele working) model to address those pressing
personal/ family needs.
Worry , but only to the point it helps
Take time for yourself. This may sound difficult for people who believe they
are in very responsible position … who think they are indispensable.
Find opportunities within the busy work schedule
Take more Frequent though short breaks
Establish good, supportive relationships, both at work and home.
Give up the hesitation of knowing your colleagues better.
Its important to foster real teamwork and create an environment in which
employees respect and are willing to assist each other.
Children frequently enjoy being a useful member of the family - especially if
they understand the importance of it.
Try the Home working (tele working) model to address those pressing
personal/ family needs.
Worry , but only to the point it helps
Work-life Balance Exercise #1
Sunil is 45-year old man and an only child
whose elderly, widowed mom has Alzheimer's
disease. Sunil needs to aid his mom with
personal needs as well as such things as
cooking, housework, buying groceries, etc.
Sunil is also a sales representative for an
alarm company and must put in endless hours
at the office in order to get a promotion to
district sales manager.
What can Sunil do to balance his work and
non-work lives?
What can Sunil’s organization do to help him
balance his work and non-work lives?
Work-life Balance Exercise #2
Rita is a 26-year old wife and new mother. She
has just returned to work after a 6-week
maternity leave and found out that her husband,
Prashant, was laid off. Rita and Prashant are
both paying off student loans, they just put their
new baby into a great daycare facility and bought
a new car after the old one broke down.
How can Rita work toward balancing her work
and non-work lives?
How can Prashant help?
How can Rita and Prashant work together so that
they each have balance?