Balancing work and life

Recently as a part of Women's Day celebrations in office, we were asked to think and share about the biggest challenges we face in our lives currently. It struck me very strongly that a lot of the women were struggling with the whole work-life balance aspect in life. I truly caught myself thinking why's this such a big deal - felt truly snobbish for a short moment and then sent up a very very thankful thought to heavens above that i could afford to think like this.

In my almost 21 years of working, I have gone through my own phases of

- Work is life

- Work takes away from life

- Work comes in the way of life

and then kind of settled at

- Work is a part of life, not life itself!

My life journey i guess was determined more by the way i used my work to get what i wanted out of life - rather than being a mute spectator of life because work was so overwhelming. This of course is different for everyone just simply because all our life journeys are different. But i do want to share my learning on this topic - who knows something might just trigger off a thought or change for someone else.

- Be a life fanatic! Appreciate the life you have or want to build or experience. Have life goals - not just the 'I want to own a house' but also 'I want to travel' or 'I want to enjoy my children's growing up phase' or 'I want to play my guitar regularly'

Losing sight of these goals causes the most anxiety in us - even more than the stress of work itself.

- Be a smart worker! Lot of times hard work gets defined by the number of hours you spend at work - i find that most useless a definition. A lot of tasks at work can be handled better if you just stop to think about them and plan what you want to do before rushing in blindly as soon as they arrive in your mailbox. That small pause will not just save you a lot of time (usually) but also result in better work itself (you'll be surprised how often this happens).

- Don't get trapped into conforming to 'this is how everyone in office behaves' ! This is by far the biggest difference i have found in people who seem to have their work life in balance.

'Everyone stays late' should have no bearing on when you want to leave once your workday is done

'Post lunch / over a smoke / in a tea break people hang out for over half an hour to chat' - if it comes in the way of you packing up on time in the evening, dont do it'. Do it if it makes sense as you're discussing something which leads to work getting done better / faster . But not if its just time pass. Not on a daily basis. Not at the cost of finishing your tasks.

'Cant leave till the time the boss leaves' - one of the stupidest reasons and yet the most common ones i have heard of in my career. He/She may have a totally different approach to their work day than you - be comfortable enough to have a chat and discuss this. Is there a valid reason for you to stay or are you just trying to earn brownie points? Most managers i know wont mind if their team leaves on time - as long as they think you're putting in your best at work.

Develop your own work day habits - if your focus is to bring balance to your life, first bring balance to your approach to work.

- After about 4 job changes i realised that making friends at work is not a necessary part of life - especially if that comes at the cost of being able to leave office on time. I am not encouraging you to be anti-social, so dont get me wrong. Having a good rapport with colleagues is always worth it too. But trying to 'fit into the crowd' comes with a cost attached. I enjoy my life outside work and that makes me balance out the extra time I am willing to spend in social chit-chat or hanging out after hours with my colleagues.

Again dont get me wrong - some of my closest friends are those i met at work. But this didnt come at the cost of me giving up what was important to me outside of work. We bonded over common interests and values beyond office.

- Work and life will often overlap. Embrace it. If we can take work calls or answer work mails from home at night, we can certainly step out to finish a life task during work hours too. Again this is a matter of balance and understanding you can develop with your team. If you're a working mom and need to pick up books for your little one, stepping out at lunch time (with maybe a little extra time) will not matter to anyone. If you need to book your holiday travel, doing it from work is not cheating either. Just be sure you're not doing this at the cost of neglecting any work task. Most often we make things bigger in our minds than what they really are.

And lastly - invest in your work, find the kind of work that excites you, skill yourself to do a good job at work! Enjoy what you do - it will seem less and less like a burden and more and more like a hobby someone pays you to do! :)