Work/Life Design ... Life Balance...

A Question of Balance
Allowing your life to work for you

Tired, no energy, stressed, overweight, feeling trapped, hating your job, high blood pressure, your family doesn’t recognise you, conflict at work, wondering when it’s going to stop and you can get off the treadmill?

Work/life balance has become a bit of a hot topic over the last few years as more and more people decide that there must be a better way to live and work than the one that leaves them too tired to do anything outside work.

But besides having some sense that life is out of balance, there is often confusion over what work/life balance exactly is. Perhaps working against a clear picture of work/life balance is its subjective nature. For each one of us it will be different.

What is work/life balance?

Living a balanced life simply means giving the amount of time, energy and resources the we believe is necessary to the things that are most important to us. There is often a misconception that balance means setting aside equal time or resources for each area of life, but that misses the point.

To create our own WLB we first need to discover what’s important. This means asking some of the bigger questions across the breadth of our lives. This holistic approach to our lives acknowledges that we are not the metaphorical “island” existing alone in the sea of humanity but rather that each of our daily roles (be it as parent, boss, partner, workers, friend, son, daughter) is linked.

This approach also acknowledges that at different stages of our life, we will value things differently. We many wish to focus on friends and career building in our twenties, and family and legacy-building in our forties.

How does work/life balance work?

First, you’ve got to do a bit of a stocktake of your life. And I don’t just mean counting your cars, houses and plasma televisions. This stocktake is like the auditors have arrived and they’re doing this for your own good. Really.

Actually, it’s not that scary. Most people find it quite energising because they finally begin to get back in touch with what they really want out of life and what is going to bring them great joy and fulfilment for the rest of their lives.

In your stocktake you look at all the different spheres of your life - your work and career, your finances, your health, your physical environment, your relationship with partner, family, friends, and others, your own growth and relationship with yourself; and your leisure - and rate how satisfied you are.

And here’s where it gets very subjective. For each life area each of us has different aspirations, expectations, hopes, dreams as well as different levels of optimism and experience which influence what we believe is possible. Are you a person who believes that you can have anything that you desire (if you work hard enough, know the right people, are in the right place at the right time, etc)? Or, do you believe that to avoid disappointment it’s always best to not aim too high or get your hopes up?

What's important to you right now?

So what is important to you? What are your essentials for life? And what are the bonuses? Which areas really need your attention right now? Which ones are you doing better than expected?

Once you’ve worked out what’s important then you’ve set your metaphorical goal-posts and now you can set about doing the things you need to do everyday that will draw you closer to what you desire. You know what you want, and you can see yourself getting closer everyday - balance and fulfilment are on track.

ACTION:
Complete your own Life Balance Wheel to see where you're on track and where things are getting a little bit wobbly...