Is Work-Life balance a myth?
Introduction:
On this episode of Self-Care and Hustle, I’m here to bust the myth of work-life balance being impossible.
Everyone wants to live the dream. Everyone wants to come home after a long day at work and spend time with their families. Have food together, maybe have a family movie night or maybe even just talk to them.
But in today’s world employees who are available 24/7 and are working all the time, day and night are applauded. Employees are basically treated as robots, expected to work 24/7.
With 40% of people likely to use their computer even after 10pm and not only that but according to a study, 26% of work is done on the weekends.
(MacKay The state of Work Life Balance in 2019 (according to data) - rescuetime) (The work-life balance, myth or fact?)
So, it is easy to see how our work life keeps us trapped in a bubble, making it difficult for us to spend time with our loved ones.
Importance:
Now some of you might ask yourselves, why Is work/life balance so important? So let me explain you guys the significance of work/life balance and kind of why people find it difficult to manage both.
Well, when we step into our professional lives we believe that the longer we work, the more productive or successful we’ll be. But let me tell you guys, that’s not always the case! In fact, research shows that beyond a certain number of hours, workers stop producing anything significant, but on the flipside the damage being done to their mental wellbeing sure is significant.
The bottom line is that if we keep on working 24/7 without playing our favorite sport, watching our favorite tv show, spending quality time with our family and friends, without taking a break or meditation we’ll eventually end up feeling a severe burnout that comes with serious stress-related issues. This will be counter-productive for us.
So what I’m trying to say is that, we need to start balancing our lives and start prioritizing other activities we enjoy, rather than work all the time!
***
Before we move on to talking about overcoming chaos between your work life and personal life, I’d like to take the time, a bit of your time to ponder upon yourself today: where are you at in your life? Do you feel like you’re doing well? Do you feel like you want to do more but feels stuck? do you feel unmotivated? Or simply you just don’t understand what’s going on. This is where this podcast comes in - self care and hustle. I’m inviting you guys to follow or subscribe to this podcast and let’s work on together for you to get to the brighter side! accept your flaws and be your best version!
How to overcome them:
Now guys, let’s discuss some possible solutions for you to finally get in line to prioritize both your work life and your personal life.
But before we jump into some potential solutions, I think we have to accept that there is no “perfect” work/life balance. There might be days, you’ll have to work overtime and sacrifice some family time and there will also be days where you’ll come home early and spend time with your family and pursue your hobbies. It’s not as linear or consistent as people make it to be, we must be realistic.
(How to improve your work-life balance)
Some routines might work for some people, but not for others. We shouldn’t look at a person’s work/life balance and go “that’s it, that what I want” because that might not work for us. Ther is no point in looking around for comparisons, we should try to strivee and achieve what works best for us!
(How to improve your work-life balance)
So now that that’s out of the way, let’s jump into the first tip.
The first piece of advice I would like to give you all is to try and communicate your wishes to your boss. Try and explain to your boss, how your workload is not allowing you to spend quality time with your family.
Communication is key!
You need to discuss your workload with them, as they may not know otherwise how you’re suffering because of the workload. This may lead to them taking some work off your shoulders so that you keep your work/life balance in check.
Now I know, It may sound daunting to take this step, but what other options is there? Your boss handles your work load and only your boss can do something about lowering your workload. Scary step, I know but sometimes it has to be done!
(The work-life balance, myth or fact?)
Another tip is to set boundaries. Limit your work hours, what I mean by that is to not instantly jump onto an email you receive late at night. Set rules for yourself, like no more emails after 7 or no work before breakfast. When you’ll stick by these boundaries you’ve set for yourself, other people will also respect your boundaries.
I feel like setting boundaries in today’s workplace is almost compulsory, because otherwise you’ll end up finding yourself working all the time!
A pro tip which will make it more easier for you to set boundaries, download an app that blocks notifications on your cellphone, this way you won’t even come near to read any work-related emails you’ll receive over the weekend or non-office hours. Trust me, this works like a charm!
(The work-life balance, myth or fact?)
Also guys, keep remining yourself that you had a life before this job. You went out, spent time with your family and friends and had hobbies you loved to do. So that is still possible if you just readjust your priorities a bit.
“If you do not firmly plan for personal time, you will never have time to do other things outside of work,” said Chancey, a career expert and a good work-life balancer.
And, I have to say guys that I totally agree with him. I mean, when that late night work-related email pops up, all of us suddenly have time to reply to it and work. It’s just about commitment, in my opinion. So if we put some work and make an effort of planning trips or just spending time with our loved ones in general, I think it will make it a lot easier for us to “find time” and eventually make it a routine/habit of ours. (How to improve your work-life balance)
And I think it goes without saying that we need to keep our health in check. You guys must have heard the saying, “Health is wealth” and I think this saying is absolutely right. Our health allows us to work, day in and day out. So we need to make sure that our physical condition is not getting bogged down by an overload of work. Now it doesn’t need to be a 10 mile run every day, even simple meditation and light exercise will do the trick!
Apart from keeping our physical health intact, we need to make sure that our mental health is also protected and stable. Having an optimal mental health will allow us to work more effectively and efficiently. Which means more time for the fam and more work done in the same amount of time! Sounds like a good deal! (How to improve your work-life balance)
Also guys, be realistic. Don’t expect yourself to completely change you routine around after listening to these tips, it will take time. For starters, take one tip and try to implement it within you routine, and when you’re able to perfect it, move onto the next one!
Outro:
That brings us to the end of this episode! Thank you, guys, for tuning in to this week’s episode! I hope you guys found this discussion on work life balance helpful. Nowadays, everyone is facing this problem, with increased workload and the economy taking a turn for the worse, most of us are forced to work overtime. While working hard is perfectly fine, we should remind ourselves of our limits and learn to balance our personal life with our private life.
Please let me know your thoughts on this episode in the comments down below! Also, if you have any interesting topics, you want me to discuss in the future episodes, let me know!
If you enjoy my show, please rate, and review us on Apple Podcasts/Google Podcasts/Spotify—and be sure to come back next week for a discussion of [next episode’s topic]. Until then, take care and Goodbye!
Works Cited:
MacKay, Jory. “The State of Work Life Balance in 2019 (According to Data) - Rescuetime.” RescueTime Blog, 8 May 2019, https://blog.rescuetime.com/work-life-balance-study-2019/.
“The Work-Life Balance, Myth or Fact?” Hubgets Blog, 20 Nov. 2019, https://www.hubgets.com/blog/work-life-balance-myth-fact/#:~:text=Work%2Dlife%20balance%20is%20not,re%20our%20own%20worst%20enemy.
“How to Improve Your Work-Life Balance.” Business News Daily, https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5244-improve-work-life-balance-today.html.