Work-Life Balance - Introduction

How many times have we heard stories of or seen on television about children waiting patiently for their daddies to arrive on time so that the birthday cake can be finally cut. The child would keep on looking at the door with expectant eyes, hoping his father would rush through the door, a gift in hand, lift him in his arms and wish him a ‘Happy Birthday’.

Just as they would be visualizing this dream, up comes the dreadful phone call that says, “Sorry, chap. Bit stuck today in an important meeting at work, but don’t worry, I will make it up to you”. The parents usually do try to make it up for their kids. However, no barbeque parties and trips to amusement parks will be able to compensate for the extreme loss of self-esteem the child would face, in the hands of the people present there. They would all sympathize, feel sorry or some parents present, might even learn their lesson to be present at their children’s birthdays at any cost, but all at the expense of this young man’s humiliation.

So, who is to be blamed here, exactly? The father is clearly not an evil man. If anything, he is doing his primary duty - being the breadwinner of the family and putting food on the table, and caring about the necessities. You obviously will not blame the child for being selfish and stupid enough, not to understand this. He has his own emotional reasons for being disappointed to see someone whom he looks up to, not being present on a day he cherishes.

Friends, welcome to the world of “Work-life Balance”. Work-life balance teaches us that we all have the right to be ambitious in pursuing our career goals, but not at the cost of losing important emotional and personal ties with people with whom you are going to share relationships with throughout your life.

Work-life balance teaches ways to manage both the different spheres of life by reducing the gap between professional and personal life so much that the dividing line almost disappears.

One of the principal observations of Work-life Balance is that when work becomes a hobby and co-workers become family, there would be sufficient time to give to both career and family.

Harms of an Imbalanced Life

Improper balance in your work commitments and personal responsibilities, more often than not, cause a tremendous stress between both the different sides of a person’s life. A person can easily lose focus and direction if his priorities are not well-set and his life oscillates dangerously between his family responsibilities and those at the office.

When the approach is so negative and confused, it will come as little surprise that people who have unhealthy work-style and negligent lifestyle tend to lose productivity with the passing of time.

Overly enthusiastic employees, at the beginning of their professional journeys, often end up messing their personal life in their efforts of meeting the exact and high standard expected of them at work, either due to their ambition to prove themselves better, or under the stress of securing a job.

It has been observed that both these situations lead to a complete collapse of productivity in the long run. People who sacrifice their personal life to achieve professional success end up neglecting their health and healthy habits like eating healthy food, proper rest, peaceful sleep and engaging in relationships. As a result of this, their health deteriorates and productivity dips significantly.