Work life balance is typically defined as the amount of time you spend doing your job versus the amount of time you spend with your friends, family, and pursuing your personal interests.
In recent years, however, the term has come under scrutiny due to its suggestion that our work and personal lives exist in separate, adversarial spheres that are constantly fighting for our time. The result is that we might inadvertently reinforce unhealthy concepts about how to view either our work or personal life, such as feeling guilty when we forgo one responsibility for another.
One of the greatest shockers of adulthood is that the weekend is a useless interval between work and rest. You find yourself hoping the weekend comes along just to fill it with more obligations.
The truth is although you might enjoy your work, you might feel overwhelmed and burdened by it, which leads to less enjoyment of it, that’s why it’s important to maintain a good work life balance.
The most stressful jobs are those in health care where it is a matter of life and death, working with customers where you always have to sound cheerful and polite, jobs based on time pressure and jobs that leave you feeling like you constantly have to deliver, or you would get fired.
One thing is certain, you need a break from work. This is a period known as recovery time, but how do you ensure that the time off work is meaningful? Many people take time off work, but when they come back, they feel neither refreshed nor relaxed.
Importance of work life balance
Improving your work life balance can potentially improve your overall well-being, including your physical, emotional, and mental health.
Studies have found that working long hours can lead to such serious health issues as “impaired sleep, depression, heavy drinking, diabetes, impaired memory, and heart disease”.
Unfortunately, as these conditions arise, they can also exacerbate our work-life issues, which in turn can exacerbate the conditions themselves; thus, leading to a vicious cycle.
While employers and employees might associate long working hours with increased productivity, many researchers say otherwise. A 2014 study, for example, found that after workers hit a certain number of hours, their productivity began to decrease as the potential for mistakes and injuries increased.
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How to improve work life balance
Step 1: Pause and pay attention
Taking time out to understand how the various parts of your life are impacting one another is a necessary step in developing a new work-life integration that serves your needs.
As you pause to consider your current work life situation, ask yourself how you feel about your current situation. Some questions you might reflect on include:
- Am I spending enough quality time doing what I really want?
- Am I committing enough time and energy to people or things that are meaningful to me?
- Do I still feel aligned to my professional or personal goals? Why or why not?
- Where do I feel the most stuck? What is it about this situation that makes me feel that way?
- As you are thinking through these complex personal questions, journaling your thoughts and feelings can be a good way to identify the areas you feel need the biggest adjustments.
Step 2: Reprioritize and Reassess
Once you have a better sense of where your work life balance could be most impacted, next you will want to reprioritize your personal values and reassess your overall approach to honoring them. During this step, identify what is most meaningful to you and why, but also consider alternatives to pursuing them in your life.
Throughout this step, some questions you might ask yourself include:
- What really matters to me and am I doing enough of it? Where can I make compromises?
- Where can’t I? Where have I been making too many compromises?
Step 3: Reflect, Refine, Repeat
Finally, once you have a better understanding of what you can do to make a more manageable work life balance, now is the time to implement those changes.
This step will be different for everyone. For some, it may mean setting firm boundaries at work about when you can be contacted out-of-office, while for others it might mean scheduling personal time for self-care.
Still, others might look for more flexible work that allows them to take parental leave when needed or be in control of their workday with flexible hours.
Whatever actions you decide are needed to create a good work-life balance, though, you should be conscious of the fact that you will likely need to continue to refine it over time. Big life changes can take time, so reflecting on your approach and refining it periodically will likely be integral parts of the process.
