OPINION: Achieving Work-life Balance by Oluyemi Fasipe
There has never been a time in history when we seem to have so much to do on our hands in so little time. Many just get caught up and swept off by the pressure; yet, a few are combining work with life in amazing ways. What is the secret?
The secret to achieving the overwhelming to-do of keeping in touch with friends online and offline, attending to families, having fun, and keeping up with the ever-increasing dynamic demands of work and career through an eight-to-four schedule that leaves one exhausted is not a very simple one-word recipe.
While many people have given great pieces of advice on this, they often miss the most important thing: what balance means to you.
So first, determine what kind of life is balanced for you.
If the day or week was three times longer (say a day is 72 hours), how would you spend it? This is the process of making a list of what interests you to do (your wish and like) and what you have to do (whether it interest you or not).
Fill three categories: work/income-related, family-and-friends related, and ‘my personal life’. From here, naturally, it is easy to then pick out the ones that really count to you and the ones that least matter. Personally, I will say to make all the must-dos (must-do work, must-do relationship, must-do personal stuff) first-order priority.
Then fit them into the real (24-hour/7-day) week from the top-down. Here you go, a priority list! Hey, also decide which ones you can sacrifice for which one, even among your top priorities; you never can tell, one may require more time eventually.
It is important to realize that such advice above does not help you determine what has value to you, so let me quickly suggest them here: immediate job might have to come before or after long-term career acts; your family might have to come before friends; exercise, quality meal, and sleep might have to come before partying or cinema.
Also, if the workplace is interesting enough (hence the advice to do what you love among whom you like), one will be having a social life all the way through work.
After prioritizing, commit to it! There is probably no bigger enemy than indiscipline.
Get yourself to do just what you set to do. Some will even suggest you start doing it with or without motivation, and I totally agree.
Lastly, ‘imbalance’ between work-life and ‘life-life’ is just a feeling except it is really telling on your health and relationship with people that matter to you. In the absence of such an effect, know that everything is just fine. Do not measure your social life with other people’s scale.
Vacation may be necessary, but if you really love to work, friend, work more!
In summary, achieving a balance between work and life is really a matter of perception, priorities, and discipline. What counts as life differs from person to person, and if work itself is life for you, do more! All is vanity.
Thanks for reading, kindly follow me on my social media pages using @YemieFash.
Post Comment