Work Life Balance

Work Life Balance 

Traditionally "work life balance" is the concept of splitting your time and energy between work and career.

Beyond work and career some split the division to more categories; leisure activities, spiritual, family, education, and other non-professional pursuits.

If you ask ten people to define the concept you will have ten different answers. This is a case where the solution may not be clear - but I know what it is not.

• Balance is not equal number of hours between work and personal activities - that's just unrealistic.
•  Balance is not a static condition - what works during certain parts of you career and home life will not work during other periods. What works today might not work tomorrow. Life with young children is very different than with adult children, or elderly care parents.
• Balance is not universal - what works for one person might be disaster for another. Everyone is an individual and their lives and goals are all different. None right, none wrong, but all unique. 

Finding "Personal Balance":

1. Organic Flow - blend you pursuits together and stop thinking they are against each other. They are together, blended, and they make the entire you.
2. Happiness - learn what you need to be happy. Whatever it is, define it, write it down, put a picture of it on your wall, visualize it. Bottom line is if you cannot define what you desire you will not achieve it.
3. Expectations - be honest about the cost of choices. Spend the currency of your life wisely.

Organic Flow

"Work" and "life" go hand in hand - they are not against each other. To make the flow of these two areas effective focus only on what you need to achieve. Some would call this "working smart". If you can remove the clutter and the noise so your focus in only on exactly what you need to complete the energy needed will be much less. Moreover, removing all the clutter and distractions will allow you to focus on the fundamentals and probably enjoy a more effective career.

Don't think work hours or work days; make yourself available by text, and by cell. Every email doesn't need to be responded to - or perhaps even read. Set up automatic filing on your email and set up a flag or notification system for VIP emails. This way you can get an alert for specific senders and not feel you are a slave to keep interrupting your work to check your mail.

Study how you spend your time and when you are most effective - I have done this and made three discoveries. First, exercising each morning allows me to better identify and focus on what actually needs to be done - do not burn up time or energy on the other things. You might never need to do them. Secondly, during the first two hours of the day I am able to complete more "cerebral" tasks than in the balance of day. Thirdly, most all of my time reading and responding to emails is a total waste.

There are tools to help manage emails - use them. If you need to communicate call them, make calling you the preferred interaction that your team understands is your preference.

Never respond to all. Most emails are actually "broadcasts" not "dialogue"- learn the difference.

Keep Focused With Lists

Spend 15 minutes at the end of the day planning your next day and adjusting your task list. Waiting until first thing in the morning to plan is too late. Organize your day efficiently by staying focused and completing tasks you will feel a sense of accomplishment that enables you to leave at the end of the day and relax into your personal life. The Harada method is the best for this! Learn it!

Happiness

Happiness - it might sound selfish, but be in it for you, it is not the company, or career, or dreams. A happy rewarding life is composed of a series of happy rewarding days splice together into a continuum. Happy isn't something you get at the end. You'd better make sure you are getting this along the way. Happy is different for everyone.

Here is a short quiz that might explain where you are in the "happiness landscape".

Happiness Test

 How did you do? Better or worse than you thought?

Expectations

Realistic Expectations - if you want to be a corporate attorney you might not have time to pack school lunches and bake cookies. Some career choices will require extreme levels of time commitment. Some life choices will require extreme levels of time commitments as well. Think about becoming a doctor, becoming a parent, starting your own company, caring for an elderly parent at home, adopting, and the list of demanding choices goes on.

There are no right or wrong choices, they are all yours to make, it is up to you how you spend your energy.

We don't think badly of Olympic athletes. They have chosen pursuits that are extremely demanding. Those highly committed individuals may have made sacrifices in other areas of their live. It was and should be a personal choice.

TEDx on Work Life Balance

The Harada Method

This is a valuable tool I would encourage everyone to research. It is not for everyone. But if you have had some success with work lists and programming your schedule for great effectiveness this might be for you. I have been using this method myself since I had the pleasure of meeting Normal Bodek last year. It really made the concept of leader standard work concrete.

Past Posts

Simplicity

Peer-to-Peer Accountability 

Locus of Control

Emotional Intelligence

Breaking Bad Habits

Creating A Happy Workplace

Building Accountability

The Change Grief Curve

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Tim

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Tim Crocker currently is engaged with the SASOL LCCP Cracker Project in Westlake Louisiana as the Utilities and Infrastructure Manager LCF. During his 25-year career, he has worked on infrastructure development at BASF, Biofuels technology development with British Petroleum, and Utilities Management at Georgia Pacific and Domtar. His areas of expertise are Process Improvement (Kaizen), Steam and Power Generation, Water Treatment Systems, Chemical Recovery, Energy Management, Waste Treatment, and Performance Management. Tim received a BS in Chemistry from the University of Portland along with a second Major in Philosophy. Later he earned his MS in Paper Science Technology from the Institute of Paper Science in Atlanta, GA where he also served as student body president. Currently, Tim lives in the Moss Bluff community with his wife Cathy and daughter Yuri. They enjoy gardening, amateur astronomy, cooking, and model rocketry.