Archive for July, 2008

Part 1 and Part 2 looked at how you can balance life and work. In this post, I will focus on some more things you can do.

Schedule vacations

At first glance, this does seem a bit strange. This may also not work for some of us. But it has worked for others in the past and so deserves mention.

Everyone agrees that we need to temporarily break away from routine and take some time off. “Relax”, “recreate”, “recharge” etc have been used to describe such periods of rest. They are, in some ways, what they describe. But I want to offer a different perspective. A vacation can not only help you to pause in the game, but also give you ideas on how to play the game differently!

Let me give a real life example. One of my workaholic friends happened to be vacationing in the Andamans, when the great Tsunami struck. He was one of those fortunate not to have been severely affected, but he had to join the rescue operations till official help came. What he saw and experienced in those few days has changed him. He no longer is the boss, who “fires” people for their mistakes. He has become more adept in doing his best with the available people and tools and does not moan about his situation anymore. He spends more time with his family and contribute hours every week to social work.

He has improved his Quality of Life.

While all vacations may not result in such life-changing experiences, they do offer a chance to step back and introspect about where were are going and how fast we are going. Sometimes, going slow is for the best.

Identify and manage Peak times

I call it the single most effective tactic to work life balance. Most careers have times when you have peak load and times when you swat flies. I am not talking here about days, but about a scale of years. When you are really fresh, you take time to understand professional life and adjust to it. Then as you start moving up the ladder, the pace quickens. Lean months, typically November-December and July-August (depending on where you live), are less stressful. Certain roles may not have so much stress, like moving from customer facing delivery roles to R&D.

Take advantage of these lean periods to get some serious work done on the personal front. Learn a hobby, take the kids out, do some cooking or gardening, take time out for long lost friends etc. If your spouse is also working, then you could provide such support for which he/she will be truly grateful.

Become single

This is the ultimate way to be free from work-life balance worries! Alas, this is not for those “committed” individuals like me. Hey, don’t blame me if your spouse reads this and tries it out.

But if you think for a moment, the times when you were single were probably happier times, but the kind of happiness is different.

Wrapping it up

Work-life balance is exactly what it says – keeping work and life in balance. It does not mean you will clock watch at the office or refrain from checking office emails at home. Don’t go overboard with this thing, although you should keep work and home compartmentalized. It all boils down to what is the higher priority for you, and to make things difficult, it is not easy to assign priorities correctly always – a child’s football match vs a presentation to the Big Boss. I hope you are smart enough to ensure you don’t have to make that choice, but life has a way of defeating the best-laid plans.

Don’t listen to your heart – you might make the wrong choices based on what you value most.

If you have had any events in your life where you faced such problems, let us know. Your experiences in keeping work and life in harmony will go a long way in helping us.