Work-Life Balance; Really?

If you are a hardworking professional who believes in work-life balance but consistently struggles to achieve it, you are not alone. Millions of people around the world have a similar challenge. Reason? While the term work-life balance is quite appealing, the concept behind is at best flawed.

It assumes work and life as two opposing forces. When there is work, there is no life and life only starts after the work is ended. No wonder, this flawed idea does not work in reality. Work is an essential part of life. Without work, life is incomplete. In fact, work is a blessing; ask someone who is unemployed for a while.

Work-life balance, however, is a critical topic in human resource management. It refers to the ability to combine work and personal obligations in a way that allows both to be accomplished. Overall, work-life balance is associated with time management, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, welfare, flexibility, family, leisure time, and so on.

An individual's methods to juggle all of their work and personal obligations are referred to as their work-life balance. Although the definition is straightforward, working professionals all over the world have difficulty defining it for themselves, let alone achieving it. Due to the fact that many people are stressed and do not feel "balanced," it is necessary to examine how we conceptualize work-life balance and how it needs to evolve for today's busy professionals.

Work-Life Balance and The Problem With It

The fact that more than one in every four professionals describes themselves as "super stressed" is no surprise, given that so many of us are torn between juggling heavy workloads, managing relationships, and family responsibilities. And that isn't healthy or balanced in any way.

Our rush to get it all done at work and in our personal lives makes it easy to forget that as our stress levels rise, our ability to complete tasks decreases as well. Stress can impair our ability to concentrate, cause us to become irritable or depressed, and lead us to lose our interpersonal and professional relationships.

Stress also has the additional effect of weakening our immune systems, making us more susceptible to a variety of ailments, ranging from colds to backaches to heart disease. According to the most recent research, chronic stress can increase our chances of a heart attack twofold.

People are always trying to find that balance to give both personal and professional lives equal time. But it is not easy as it seems. Most senior-level professionals and executives today have to be attentive to work round the clock. This does not mean that they’re actually working at the office during those hours, but they have to be available if there is an urgent call from work at any time.

Additional working hours and working outside of normal working hours at the expense of home and family time, combined with high levels of work intensity and pressure, can result in poor health. It is also coupled with stress, anxiety, fatigue, and other negative and unpleasant psycho-physiological consequences that can have a devastating impact on the quality of one's family and work life.

Long working hours reduce the amount of time an individual has available to spend with friends and family. Employees may experience difficulties maintaining family relationships and performing tasks or duties that are family-oriented due to a lack of available time. In some cases, strain-based demands such as job security or concern about losing one's job endanger the economic well-being necessary for a high quality of life and long-term stability.

Work-life conflict can also lead to a variety of other problems. Women may be faced with difficult career choices and constraints, limited opportunities for advancement and success in their current job, and the need to choose between a fulfilling, active career and marriage and children. Most men must choose between their professional and personal values when attempting to make career and family work in unison.

As a result of these serious consequences, organizations today face the prospect of losing talented professionals who, as a result of the imbalance between work and life, are unable to meet the demands of both family and work.

Work-Life Integration

Work-life integration is defined as an approach that fosters greater synergies between all areas that define life, including work, family, community, and personal well-being. Rather than drawing sharp lines between different areas of life, this approach emphasizes gentle pivoting rather than sharp divisions.

Work-life integration is a fantastic way to ensure that all aspects of your life receive equal time and attention without choosing between one or the other. It's more grounded in reality. While establishing a separation between work and home is a desirable goal, it is not always possible, and this can result in high levels of frustration further affecting the quality of life if the balance is thrown off.

It's an excellent method for prioritizing tasks effectively. Managing your tasks in a way that meets your priorities will be a lot easier if you list both work and home-based responsibilities together. This could entail working in the morning, followed by tasks necessary to do in the day, for example, picking up the kids from the school, and then making up for the lost time by completing work-related tasks in the evening.

Indeed you will realize that work-life integration is more realistic and approachable than finding the balance between the two. Working together to integrate work and life eliminates the competitive mindset that so many of us have about our professional and personal lives if we had to boil everything down to a single advantage.

But be aware, that integrating work and life is not always as simple as making individual changes. This is especially true for people who work in a rigid environment or who have certain family obligations. Work-life integration is easier to apply if there is flexibility in the workplace and a supportive family structure to guide you through it.

Work-life integration is not something that can be accomplished in a single day or with a single change. It is a learning process that involves a great deal of trial and error. Adjust your course slightly to get you moving in the right direction. For example, rather than rushing to a fitness class right after you clock out of the office, you might decide to start working out during your lunch break. Check to see if making small adjustments feels right for you before incorporating big elements.

You can determine your requirements. But, for each individual, work-life integration will look different, and personal obligations will determine how you choose to organize your time. So, in order to achieve it, you must first prioritize your needs.

Measure your contributions in terms of value instead of hours. It can be all too easy to equate the amount of time you spend at work with your level of productivity – but this isn't always a reliable indicator of your level of contribution to the company. Instead, concentrates on the value you bring to the table by setting targets and deadlines (and rewarding yourself) for everything you do.

Finally, you should know that maintaining some level of boundaries is necessary. While work-life integration can be a useful tool for achieving both personal and professional objectives simultaneously, there is a risk of going overboard with it. And no one is expecting you to integrate both aspects of your life completely. Pay close attention to your overall well-being and happiness, and, most importantly, do what is right for you. Work-life integration may not be for everyone, but when done correctly, it has the potential to improve your career success and personal happiness significantly.

Change Your Mindset

The advancement of technology and the increasing demands of work have blurred the lines between work and personal life. However, this does not imply that you must spend the rest of your life in corporate prisons. When it comes to balancing work and personal life, numerous options are available to help you achieve your goals.

It all starts with a shift in perspective. If you are successful in winning your inner game, your chances of success in the outer game increase significantly. Here are the six mindsets you can adopt to escape from the corporate prisons:

1st Mindset: Your Life Focus

Work-life integration is not about setting up schedules; rather, it is about changing one's mindset. Have you figured out what you want to achieve in your life? Is your work and profession well-aligned with your life's mission? Schedule some quality time to think about your present and future. It is absolutely necessary that you bring alignment to your life.

The new reality for business leaders is a working environment of 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Make adjustments to your pace and rhythm. Life is not a sprint; rather, it is a marathon that must be completed. Stop compartmentalizing your life; you only have one life, and it is short. Take your life back from the clutches of the corporate prison system. We spend our lives assisting our employers in accomplishing their business mission and vision and lose sight of the purpose and vision of our own life.

Work is an essential component of everyday life. Find a purpose that allows you to integrate your work, family, and personal lives into one cohesive whole. Set your priorities in the context of your overall life and then narrow them down to specific short-term objectives and goals.

2nd Mindset: Career Focus

Put an end to your job-induced coma. You are not your job. Change your focus from your job to your career. Jobs that last a lifetime are a thing of the past. The average length of time spent with a single employer is rapidly decreasing. If you can maintain a successful job for three to five years, consider yourself fortunate. The majority of professionals, according to many experts, will change jobs 12 to 15 times during their career lifecycle. Are you prepared to take on your next role?

3rd Mindset: Entrepreneurial Mindset

Create an entrepreneurial mindset in your life. We are all employed professionals who are in the business of selling our talent. Our customers are our employers for whom we work. Some last for a longer period of time, while others remain short. Unfortunately, we are only able to serve one customer at a time. However, this should not prevent you from engaging in personal marketing to attract new customers who, of course, are your future employers. You have to be the best salesperson selling your skills and abilities.

4th Mindset: Be Employable

It really does not matter whether you are employed or not. It is a temporary situation. What is truly important is whether or not you are employable. So instead of worrying about your job security, concentrate on improving your marketability. Prepare yourself for your next role. Instead of being a currency note stamped by a central bank, transform yourself into a gold coin that has a high intrinsic value. And know that when you become a gold coin, your value never goes down.

5th Mindset: Talent Demand and Supply

In order to succeed in the talent market, you must understand the game of demand and supply. The supply of talent is often greater than the demand. The rules of the game have been altered, and the bar has been raised significantly. It is an employer's market, and employers are looking for significantly higher talent than most job seekers can offer. Understand what is in demand and train yourself in the necessary skills. Remember, as a talented professional, you have only two tasks; keep developing your talent and keep marketing it.

6th Mindset: Loyalty to Your Profession

All jobs are temporary but your profession or career is permanent. Getting your head around this is a game-changer. You should first be loyal to your profession and then to your employer. If you are a controller, try to become the best controller in the world irrespective of the quality of your employer. Do not let your employer limit your potential. Set your own standards. Any employer you work for will benefit from your higher level of professionalism and excellence.

Join an independent professional organization outside of work and commit to it for the long haul. Keep abreast of what is going on in your field and continue to learn and develop yourself. Today, you must devote at least 10% of your time to learning new skills if you want to maintain your current level of performance. And, if you want to make progress and grow, you must be willing to spend at least 15-20 percent of your time.

Get Rid of Busy-ness

Let's face it: for most of us, being busy is an addiction that we crave and actually enjoy. Because it makes us feel important and in demand, it indirectly satisfies our fear of job security. If we are not busy or fully occupied, we may experience feelings of insecurity.

The vast majority of us, unfortunately, never received any formal training in personal productivity skills. What is preached in the name of time management is also ineffective. In reality, there is no such thing as time management; the only thing we can do is to manage ourselves. However, a shift in perspective is required for effective self-management; to-do lists will not work.

Here is my 8-step formula to help you overcome the challenges of daily firefighting, starting with a strategic mindset shift and progressing to tactical remedies for day to day challenges:

1.???Delegate, Delegate, Delegate

Delegation, delegation, and more delegation are the three most important words in achieving work-life balance. The majority of CFOs today continue to perform the functions of their controllers. Upgrade your skills and delegate the easy tasks to others. Your primary focus should be on resolving the issues at hand, developing a successor, and moving on. Don't be concerned about job security; it doesn't exist anymore. Every day, you must justify your position and work towards it. Each day is a competition, and you are your biggest competitor.

Rather than dumping work on your deputies, take time to redefine the roles and responsibilities in order to adopt a new way of thinking. Review your organization chart and make significant improvements to the roles and responsibilities of the bottom half. The potential of these individuals should not be underestimated. If you put your faith in them and give them a chance, they will perform miracles. Begin by filling in the positions at the bottom of the list and working your way up. This will free up enough space in the upper half of the organization chart to allow more strategic work. You should start with your own function or department if you cannot do so for the entire organization.

2. Make Close Friends at Work

We spend the majority of our time at work. Work consumes the best part of our day and the majority of our energy. To be able to enjoy our lives, we must be in the best possible place to work. However, the 'best place to work' is not determined by the presence of cafeterias and gym facilities. The "best place to work" is the place where your coworkers are. Take a moment to consider how relaxed, happy, and energetic you are when you're with your friends. Don't be afraid to form close friendships at your place of employment.

3.????Get Out of the Reactive Mode

If you don't absolutely have to respond to emails right away, don't do it. It is acceptable for you to respond within 24 hours. You'll be surprised at how many issues are resolved before you even get involved in the situation. Listen more than you speak, especially when you're in front of your team. Being the boss does not automatically imply that you are the most intelligent person in the room. Allow others to take the initiative.

4.???Get the Slow Movers Out of the Way

Have you noticed how slow drivers on a fast highway obstruct the path of other motorists? Corporations are similar to highways in that there are always a few slow drivers (employees) who cause everyone else to slow down. Remove them from the fast lanes. Send them to a more leisurely-paced highway where they can travel at their leisure. You'll be doing them a favor.

5.????Stop Checking Your Devices Every 2 Seconds

I understand that it's even more difficult than quitting smoking. However, this one is the most significant productivity killer and top distractor in the workplace. Disable all notifications from your emails and other apps, and make a habit of checking your phones only a few times a day to maintain discipline. The sky will not fall in between, and you will be amazed at the level of concentration with which you can enjoy doing other things.

6.????Start Standing Meetings for 30 Minutes Only

This is exactly what we did at our workplace recently, and the results have been fantastic. People began to arrive on time, spent less time greeting and socializing with one another, and concentrated more on completing the task at hand within the allotted time. It's amazing how quickly our minds can re-calibrate when we set a new goal. So put it to the test in your organization.

7.????Apply the 50:10 Rule

One of my mentors taught me this productivity technique, and it has worked wonders for my productivity. Set a timer on your phone for 50 minutes for any task, assignment, or project that you need to complete on your own. Then disconnect from the rest of the world for the duration of the task. There will be no distractions such as phones, emails, visitors, or anything else. Disconnect from everything else and devote your full attention to your task.

When the timer goes off, you should stop right there, regardless of whether your task is completed or not. For the next 10 minutes, do something unstructured, such as drinking a cup of coffee, going for a walk, or having a quick chat with a colleague. You may choose to repeat the drill to complete the same assignment or begin a completely new one. You'd be surprised at how much you can accomplish in 50 minutes if you have a clear focus.

8.?Plan Special Times for Big Projects

This concept may not sit well with some, but it has produced miraculous results for me throughout my professional life. Plan and schedule a dedicated time and occasion for projects and assignments of critical importance. The most significant accomplishments of my professional life, whether in the form of reports, analyses, project plans, business models, training programs, or other forms of documentation, were completed while I was on vacation at a beach or in the comfort of my own home over the weekend.

Find the place where you are most relaxed and creative and make that your workspace. If you have configured your work-life integration correctly, you should have no difficulty setting up your priorities, whether they are related to work or personal life.

In a nutshell, work-life balance and work-life integration are not two opposing ideas; they are complementary. Work-life balance, in reality, is possible only through work-life integration, an important component of overall well-being. The greater the imbalance between work and personal life, the lower life satisfaction, happiness, subjective health, and emotional well-being. When implemented properly, work-life integration can significantly reduce stress, improve productivity, and ensure the overall quality of life.

Leave me your comments, questions, or ideas about what has worked or did not work in your endeavors to accomplish work-life balance.

** The above article is an excerpt from my upcoming book, "Your Path to C-Suite - A Career Guide for Hungry and Foolish".