Poll any individual or family and ask them what their work-life balance looks like and you’ll get a million different answers. Work-life balance is quite personal and value centered. Feeling “out-of-balance” can be physically and emotionally draining, not to mention create problems in the home.
Your objective is to find your own balance.
A quick test:
Draw a pie chart of your day, with 24 slices. Now fill in with colored pencils the amount of hours representing work, with another family, with another self. You can also break it down further to more distinct roles of community service, or club membership, etc.
Nice pie? Now draw another representing how you’d like it to look. If they are the same, great, go no further. If your significant other or family doesn’t like how it looks, you may want to figure out what the best balance looks like for them as well. Talk to them, communicate, don’t argue, just ask. We all have different life visions, or dreams and it’s important to understand what our significant others visions may be.
Suggestions for creating the balance?
1) If within your company’s policies, do your best to leave work material at work.
2) If you can’t leave work at work, set aside a specific time to address work related issues. For example, 7-7:30pm is for work but after that will be family and me time.
3) For weekdays that require you to work at home, communicate these needs to your family and identify what your work boundaries are with them. For example make it clear that you’re only going to work from 7:00pm-7:30pm and be sure to stop after that.
4) Vacation is just that, vacation. Leave work at work, make it clear to everyone that you’re out of touch and can’t be reached until you return. If that not entirely possible or within your company’s policies, set aside or schedule time to attend to your job during the vacation.
5) Did I say vacation? If you have time off for vacation, take it. Some companies have started encouraging employees to use vacation by stipulating limits on how many hours can be rolled over to the next year.
6) Sometimes the exercise of writing out your personal values can help in determining how you want to balance your life. If your values are in congruence with work-life balance, great, if not, explore what you can do to adjust that balance.
7) Create a period in your schedule for yourself. Take 10 to 20 minutes for exercise, mediation, yoga, whatever activity you would like to engage in to refresh yourself, so that you can put the energy back into your family and your work.
Remember that by not maintaining work-life balance, you may find that the imbalance can create havoc on your emotional needs, your energy, and your relationships.
Neal is currently employed as a Behavioral Health Clinical Care Manager in Colorado working to assure that Anthem members receive the highest quality care in the most appropriate setting.)