Balancing Personal and Professional Life
More often than not, more people work longer hours to keep their job today. Working longer hours could bring stress, irritability, mood swings and health problems which in long term results in poor work performances. The families suffer on the other side adding more stress to the life. Work life balance has been an evolving story and corporations are trying to innovate newer strategies to address this important problem in today's work force. There are reasons for working overtime. It may be a personal preference or your job demands it. Here are few reasons for work-life imbalance.
Reasons for Work-Life Imbalance
Are you really passionate about your profession? Is your profession daunting and you truly enjoy solving problems? If the answer is yes, you are involved outside of the work day schedule voluntarily. It can very well be there is no work schedule for you. Day in and day out, you are working and enjoy doing. This is the happiness and you think world around you is fine. You become the job, have no time for anything else in life. It has become a second nature to you without realizing family time is compromised or personal life, depending on the situation you are in.
The nature of the job can be over demanding leaving you with no choice to work overtime. You the sole bread winner of the family. You got to take the hit. Changing the job may not be easy and you never know you will not end up with a similar situation.
If all the above is true, your personal and professional life have merged with no distinctive line in between. Without your knowledge, you are crippling your personal life. This might be a long term and extreme consequences waiting for you.
Repercussions of Work Taking Over Life
People have suffered from divorce having no time for the family because they are workaholic. They live, breath and dream of their work and have no knowledge of where the kids are and doing what. Worried about the partner who is on the verge of running away? You support them by money you earn from your work and take off some of your guilt feelings. That is not enough. You have no time for friends nor a social get together. So eventually you may be forgotten by the people next to you. You forget about your physical health which needs to be taken care of. because you are busy with your work. Your mind is never refreshed and rejuvenated. How do you handle it before it is too late?
Want to Win this Major Challenge? Here is How
If the work has taken over you, it is hard to separate work from personal life effortlessly but can never be impossible. How do you do that?
- Self dialogue and let your mind acknowledge and accept your situation which needs change. Make the mind ready to separate your personal life from the professional life. You have now 8 h instead of 13–14 h + your dream!
- You have to perform well to have your job without jeopardizing your family which you keep ahead of your job. It needs involving planning.
- Analyze your work schedule and calculate the amount of time you will need to finish your work every day. Plan, prioritize, jotting down in paper, the priority and delivery dates will help you. Complete your work on time.
- Close your mental door with office door. Easier said than done. But allow your strong self-discipline to help you here. Make it a practice.
- Corporations these days encourage this balancing act and there are help available as well. Take help if it necessary. Work with your supervisor(s) if you see you are overloaded.
- Set time aside for the family and friends. Have a family calendar next to your work calendar. Engage with your family and take part in kid’s activities. Make it feel you are always together.
- Set time aside for exercise. That can be an effortlessly forgotten. Taking care of your health is of prime importance.
- Plan on a vacation, away from work and come back energized. Feel the family glue.
- Check you list every day after you wake up and before you sleep? How are you doing in your balancing act?
Conclusion
it is important to separate your personal and professional life to enjoy both the worlds. It can be difficult but never impossible. It gives you mental peace and not feeling guilty over long run for not taking care of your family and kids. Time pass by you and some people cry over spilling milk. You want not to be one of them. You never plan to see your teenage son on drugs because you had no time!
What is your score in this tough challenge?
Recent Comments
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Even though we have so many ways of operating in our professional life. always as touted to make life easier for us, the fact seems to be that our 'bosses' expect more out of us, selling ourselves to the Company Store. In the US I find a mentality of 'never say no' to the boss. I maintain that if I cannot say no to my boss without it affecting our relationship then he is not a leader but a controller. In my early years of working for a boss seems like an eternity way back, when a person worked for a company, they understood that a happy man at work was because he was a happy man at home and they had family picnic days to thank families for great work, because the workers family was considered part of the company. When the bottom line became about money rather than relationships everything changed.
Thank you for sharing your beautiful early life and outlook. I enjoy being in a work environment where I feel I am in a family. It is hard. Money has been a never-ending desire of the most. Everyone is in the rat race even in their dreams making money. That dictates the life.