Life Balance

its time to gain control over your Life Balance

Family and Community – Government and university studies support the idea that the ‘all work and no play’ lifestyle contributes to divorce, dysfunction in the family, and lack of involvement and investment in the community and neighborhood. As the community grows apart and neighbors become strangers, emotional and family support for things like childcare, help with aging parents and support following trauma and tragedy become real issues.  Families struggle with alternating schedules, and children fail to thrive emotionally and physically.  Divorce is rampant and single parents are under even more stress with even less time to pay attention to children.  So, things deteriorate even more. Productivity – If your employer believes that your eighty-hour workweek is giving him more benefit, he should look at the statistics and information gathered by human resource companies and companies that focus on efficiency and productivity. 

It is a fact that the human brain needs downtime and rest and recreation to recycle.  Think about your own life and the times when you had to work long hours to get something finished.  Perhaps you found that you could barely focus after a certain number of hours.  There is a reason that coaches that teach good study habits tell students not to cram for eighteen hours before an exam, but rather to spread out the studying and mix in recreation.  Take a walk; talk with friends to regain your clarity and focus.  If you and your employer truly want to take the best advantage of your time, you need to take time for yourself.   You will spend less time reworking things you’ve done wrong, mistakes you’ve made and details you’ve missed.  And your employer will get better quality and output regardless of your job. Pilots are subject to time constraints and can only spend so many hours in the air because airlines learned a long time ago that a tired and overworked pilot could make critical errors.  In lengthy neurosurgery or heart surgery, surgeons take breaks and leave the operating room to clear their heads and rest.  Again, these habits and techniques were learned the hard way and only when critical mistakes were made did these work policies change.  You wouldn’t want a tired doctor working on your open heart, would you? Now that we’ve discussed the reasons work life balance is important, and you know that others feel as you do, what do you do about the problem? You may hate what has happened to your life.  But, you probably don’t know how to change the landscape.  You will be happy to know that you CAN change your life. 

Whether you make this decision for health reasons, relationship reasons or simply out of the need to get control over your own life, you have more than enough justification and motivation to make the move.  However, you need to make a firm commitment to this change.  Be realistic about how fast and how far you can go with this plan.  But, let’s be clear about something!  What we are talking about here is not quitting your job and hoping that someone will donate money to the cause.  There is a real difference between achieving balance in your work and family life and the idea that you don’t have to work at all. Work is part of life, and it is healthy and constructive.  It pays the bills; it gives us the reward of real accomplishment and feeling of useful participation in the community and in society. What we are talking about here is the rational balance of your work and social life – a balance that is all too rare in today’s society, and one whose absence has caused sky-high healthcare costs and a dramatic increase in stress, psychological and relationship problems. Now that we are clear on the goals and reasons for work/life balance, let’s continue! If you’ve decided to jump off the merry-go-round and seek some occasional solace with your family and friends, you must have a plan for your escape.First, and foremost, you must set goals!  Involve your boss, co-workers, friends and family in the process and keep the lines of communication open, and you’ll end up where you want to be. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Depending on your age and how long you have run the rat race, you may find it harder than you thought it would be but with perseverance and the right support network, you can succeed.  Are you ready?  Good!