Is there such a thing to be had as work/life balance? Of
course there is! But it helps to understand what is really
meant by it in order to manage your commitments toward
having any hope of achieving it. Like “family
values”, work/life balance is very easy to talk about
and quite a bit more challenging to actually live. Each
requires substantial personal commitment, particularly if
you want to be successful.
Experiencing work/life balance probably requires an
adjustment to your way of thinking. Most people think in
one dimension following a linear thought pattern. They see
things as absolute and respond only one way, either
positive or negative. We can or we can’t do it.
Let’s call this first wave thinking.
Some people use expanded thought patterns. They see and
compare things from two sides, both positive and negative,
and make choices on the basis of analysis. For them the
issue is one of “maybe we can AND maybe we
can’t”. This is what's called second wave
thinking.
People who achieve work/life balance are third wave
thinkers. They use complete thought patterns, compare
things from multiple angles and see all sides and
perspectives. They look at things from the inside out and
the outside in. Successful people are almost always grand
masters of third-wave thinking. Their approach is always
“how can we make this happen?”
Here’s how this translates to the challenge of
achieving work/life balance. First-wave thinkers believe it
means trading 8 hours of work for the guarantee of an equal
8 hours of time to devote to having a personal life. The
second-wave thinkers see work/life balance as 8 hours of
work buying 8 hours of personal life but they are willing
to invest some or all of their personal time in additional
work when they feel it’s the only way open to the
reward of success. Sadly, neither one of these two groups
experience much work/life balance regardless of the number
of hours logged at the office or spent at home.
Third-wave thinkers, on the other hand, see that work/life
balance is not a matter of equal time for both pursuits.
Rather, it is a matter of accepting that to give more to
your work, you must get more from your life, and to give
more to your life, you must get more from your work. The
values actually added and subtracted are always changing as
they are in constant motion. As long as you remain aware
of where you are at any given time in your work and in your
personal life, you will always be able to maintain a fine,
healthy, and satisfying balance. Welcome to professional
nirvana!
To sum up, the people who achieve work/life balance have
stopped looking at work as simply a means of making a
living and have realized it’s one of the elemental
ingredients of making a life. So, the next time you are
experiencing dissatisfaction at work and unhappiness in
your life and are ready to blame it on a lack of work/life
balance, stop and ask yourself this important question,
“How do I want it to become and what personal actions
will carry me there?” Then, as they say in the Nike
commercial, “Just do it!”
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Get more free career tips and great advice at
http://www.smartstartcoach.com
Career advancement expert and mentor Linda M. Lopeke is a
leading authority on how to succeed in the 21st century
workplace and the creator of SMARTSTART Mentoring Programs:
Success-to-go for people working @ the speed of life!
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