Balance work and life or integrate them?
Here are my thoughts...
Many of us now try integrating work with our life more than balancing. We don't have the perfect solution to balance both work and life.
For instance, at home, I take care of two daughters of a different age group along with managing things at my home. At work, I manage a global team. Apart from these two, I now run a community - this is my passion. I am not compromising on any - my home, work, or my passion. Here are some of my tips/practices that made this possible.
1. Being organized helps - be it at home or work, plan your day. It helps you to optimize - [just try to do it for a week, you will notice the difference]
2. Identify what drains you out - It can be anything. Some people drain out our energy or some tasks at work or home drains us out. It's important to identify and avoid those energy drainers.
a. Delegate those tasks to others who are good at it
b. If it is people, then stay as far away from them as possible
3. Me time - On your calendar, make sure to add this me time. It can be just 30-60 minutes. You need to take that time out to reflect or read or do anything that you enjoy doing; this helps to boost your productivity and mental well-being.
4. Be clear as to where you see yourself in the future - It's important to have clear career goals - both short-term and long-term based on your desired career journey. This will help you to decide how much you need to integrate work and life. You will sometimes need to spend a little more time learning/taking up a course and you may need to adjust your timetable. If you remember why you are doing it, then you won’t mind the hard work. There are times we may need to spend more time with our family due to various reasons, this is ok, just make sure you don't feel guilty about it and get into a stress mode because of that.
In summary, based on your desired journey in both career and life, plan your time in a way that will make you happy and feel satisfied.
Good one, Deepa. I truly believe that integration is the key. Balancing, in the long run, just adds to the stress! The very word conjures image of trying keep things afloat while walking on a tight rope! I find that being organised and taking the time to actually incorporate some walking/running and me time helps a great deal with being all in 100% whether at work, or in life. I also find that getting enough sleep (this is possibly the most underrated and least spoken about tip) is extremely useful to stay fully alert and present in all that we do.