Is a work-life balance achievable?
We are constantly reminded of the need to maintain a balance between our personal lives and professional lives.
We are constantly told to give equal attention, time and energy to both our personal life and work. And yes, the concept of work-life balance is in place to help you prevent burnout and maximise productivity but is it really feasible?
Can you dedicate the same amount of time and energy to both your personal life and professional life? Can you strictly establish a boundary between your work life and your personal life?
Introducing: Work-life Harmony
This alternative is called the work-life harmony. Unlike the work-life balance idea, this is more about doing what fits your unique circumstance and situation and acknowledging the fact that your personal and work life are intertwined.
Unlike the work-life balance, the idea of work-life harmony doesn’t separate your work-life from your personal life because the truth is they are both interrelated.
For example, if you’ve finished your tasks for the day and your boss commends or gives you a bonus for a job well done, won’t this put you in a better mood, causing you to have a nicer and friendlier demeanour towards your co-workers and friends? Also, if you haven’t rested in days, you are always working on one task or the other and you never seem to find the time to rest, won’t this cause burnout thereby affecting your productivity at work?
Your personal and work life are interconnected and the idea of work-life harmony is to help you find strategies that blend the two lives together rather than keeping them separated.
An idea of work-life harmony looks like this. It could be taking a five or ten-minute break during work hours, it could be answering work emails or doing little work tasks during your personal time or it could be deciding to take one hour out of your work to attend your child’s event at school.
The idea is to have something that is not too rigid. Something that allows you to be flexible and do tasks based on how important they are.
Strategies That Can Help You Implement a Work-life Harmony?
1. Take a break when you feel like you need it
The truth is you need to rest. You can’t underestimate the power of rest, especially when you feel stressed out, because that’s when you get recharged and refreshed. It could even be a 5 or 10-minute break.
This has worked for me. There are times that I’m stressed out over a content idea or if I feel like I don’t have the inspiration to continue what I’m writing. What I do is to take a break. I take my mind off whatever it is I’m writing and I’m always shocked at the outcome.
Most of the time, I come back with new ideas on what to do. So, when you feel like you’re stressed, take a break because, at the end of the day, it helps you become more productive.
2. Be Flexible
The idea of work-life harmony is so that you don’t get caught in the guilt and worry that comes with your inability to maintain a work-life balance.
And, one of the ways to prevent this is to be flexible with your schedule. If you’re currently on your personal time, you can allow yourself to take a little time to do a work-related chore.
Or, if you’re in your work time, you can take a little time to rest or reply to a family member’s message. You don’t have to strictly divide the time into personal and work time so that you don’t feel guilty when you don’t entirely keep to them.
3. Prioritise your tasks
This will help you greatly to achieve work-life harmony because you will be able to do tasks not just because you want to tick items off your list but because these tasks are important.
For example, you can quickly go to your child’s school event during work time. At that moment, it’s more important. You can make use of productivity apps like Notion to plan tasks according to how important they are.
4. Effective Communication
Talking to a friend or a loved one when stressed out will help you feel refreshed. Part of effective communication is also being able to say “No”.
You can say no to your boss when you feel the workload is too much.
5. Lastly, practice self-compassion
One of the important aspects of work-life harmony is to make sure you are not under constant guilt, stress and worry because you are striving for a balance between your personal and professional life. Instead, it’s to make sure that both co-exist harmoniously.
Final Thoughts
Remember, you are the architect of your time and you can divide it in whatever way suits you. There will always be times when you feel overwhelmed. When this happens, give yourself a break.
As long as you feel fulfilled and you know that you will make time out to work on the other.
Remember it’s not about being perfect, having a work-life harmony is a journey.
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