A Successul Balancing Act
The very fact that work/life balance is perceived as a dilemma in contemporary society indicates that a large number of people at least pay lip-service to the idea, attributed to Senator Paul Tsongas, that no man on his deathbed ever said “I wish I’d spent more time at the office”. It is quite probable that there are many men (and women) who devote their entire life to their career, willingly sacrificing family life and putting little effort into developing any relationships or interests outside their work. For everyone else, there are constructive ways to address the crucial balancing act between career and private time.
Socialize with colleagues
Many people will find congenial company at work. After all, your colleagues share some of the same goals as you, and if you find yourself short of topics of conversation you can always talk shop. These are the people with whom you spend most of your waking hours anyway, so letting working hours segue into social events with the same individuals can make a lot of sense for the career-minded who don’t have time to invest in developing other relationships. The downside is that if you change jobs you lose your entire social network.
Work smarter and harder but not longer
However, the assumption that those who put in the longest hours at work are the most productive is false. It is also incorrect to say that doing large amounts of overtime will necessarily put you at the top of the list for the next promotion. You can perhaps spend a very fruitful hour in the office either before or after normal working hours, when you are less likely to be distracted by the phone or by other people walking through your door, but that should be the limit unless an important deadline is looming. Try to work faster, harder and smarter during normal hours, then leave for home and the other side of your life without taking your work with you.
Plan for success
One of the best ways to work smarter is to do a little planning. Short-term plans, like a realistic list of what you expect to achieve at work today or this week, should see you focused on achievement in a way that will get you out of the office promptly at the end of the day. Longer term strategies may involve setting up bigger accomplishments that will get you noticed, and are far more likely to advance your career than daily unformulated plodding and unsocial hours ever will.
Make commitments outside work
It’s one thing to just keep promising that you will make the time for a social life, and quite another to actually do something about it. You will probably never get around to it unless you make a real commitment. Join a club or a sports team that meets at least once every week. Sign up for a course that has nothing to do with work. How about learning a foreign language so that you can make the most of a vacation in an exotic location with your new-found friends? If you have a family, make your weekly obligation something that you can do with them, and try to stick to your promise at all costs.
Dull Jack, ill Jill
The old adage that says ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’ could have been written for the 21st century. If all you do is toil at your desk every day and night, don’t be surprised if your boss passes you over for promotion in favor of someone more capable of camaraderie, a person with the wide-ranging conversational skills produced by having an extensive circle of friends. There are also reasons for believing that an active social life is good for both your mental and physical health, according toan article published in Time magazine.
In fact, theMayo Clinicurges those overly focused on their career to the detriment of their social lives to consider the cost, including fatigue, damage to relationships and increased employer expectations which will only exacerbate the problem. They recommend, among other advice, time-tracking and consequent improved time management, ruthless removal or delegation of non-essential work activities, attention to developing a support system both at work and outside it, and conscious self-nurture to improve health and overall quality of life. It is not difficult to see that those who adopt this approach should be able, in their later years, to look back on a satisfactory career which did not prevent them from savoring some of life’s less material rewards.
