What is it?
The term "work-life balance" appeared in the late 80s. The Cambridge Online Dictionary explains it as the ratio of time spent working to the time you love: yourself, family, friends, leisure.
The feeling of balance or harmony is exclusively individual for each person, which, moreover, changes more than once throughout life. But despite all the individuality, there is one commonality: everyone should strive for such a vital balance.
Work-life disbalance
The imbalance manifests itself in different ways: mistakes strained relationships with colleagues, professional burnout, insomnia, a constant feeling of discomfort, lack of strength, energy, time for oneself, family, health, sports, hobbies. If you are familiar with these sensations, then you know firsthand about the root causes of imbalance.
Overtimes
Balance largely depends on the number of hours spent at work. Overwork endangers people's safety, affects their health, increases stress levels, and has an extremely short-term effect.
Lack of achievement and enjoyment
The feeling of harmony and balance in life is impossible as such if there are no achievements in life at the same time. Trying to live on only one side of the coin does not lead to a complete feeling of happiness.
Career sacrifices
Building a career requires sacrifice, of course. But not on a permanent basis. Perhaps now we can observe another tendency, when people gradually develop their careers and do it wisely, but nevertheless the expression "walking over their heads" remains relevant and some will do everything possible for the sake of promotion or forget about their own needs and will only go forward.
Comments
I don't like this expression. I really feel like my work and my life are in the same category. I don't like wasting time on senseless entertainment (which doesn't mean I don't). I love to focus and I love to spend time with friends and family. I like to do things that are valuable to me. I'd divide life into work and family with friends -> the time I focus on myself and the time I focus and am for others.
Which tricks do you know to keep your work-life balance?
Do you have a lot of overtimes in your work?
Yea, often especially days before the deadline.
What sacrifices are you willing to make for the promotion?
Depends on promotion that I would be able to get. I wouldn't sacrifice much for a higher wage but I would do otherwise for bigger impact and responsibility or more possibilities to develop.
2. I don't think there are any tricks and it depends on the mentality of the person. Many people may say to you, "Don't worry", "Tomorrow will be better," etc. but deep down you are thinking about work all the time. Maybe it's time to answer the question: Does someone pay you to think about working outside of work?
3. No! I never do overtime because in my opinion it is the biggest pathology of the 21st century.
4. As I mentioned briefly in the answer to the third question. I believe that the rat race, doing overtime and other such activities are a common pathology for the margins of society. If someone works and works overtime, it means that he has found himself in a place where he cannot cope. It's time to stop listening to the pseudo mental trainers and start living like a human.
2. I do not have and do not know any tricks that help to maintain a balance between work and private life.
3. Depends on what we mean by a lot. In my work, overtime is paid and we generally try not to exceed 8 additional hours per month (1 business day).
4. I don't know if I would like to devote myself entirely to my career. I don't care about any big promotions. I think social life and my own life are much more important.
I believe that work is work and you don't have to think about it when you are out of it.
2) Which tricks do you know to keep your work-life balance?
My rules are: Don't bring your work home.
Don't do things that you are not paid for.
Don't put your company buisness higher than your health.
3)Do you have a lot of overtimes in your work?
I didn't have overtimes unless I wanted it.
4)What sacrifices are you willing to make for the promotion?
None.
First of all I'm trying not to exaggerate the amount of work during the day. Furthermore, I'm enjoying my life, finding passions and developing them. I am often meeting with my friends to put all this work aside and stop thinking about it.
2) Which tricks do you know to keep your work-life balance?
Do not lose yourself in the job. I think it is the most important thing.
3) Do you have a lot of overtimes in your work?
Fortunately not. There are some days when I must spend few extra hours or do something at different times of the day, but they don't happen often.
4) What sacrifices are you willing to make for the promotion?
I think it depends on what promotion we are talking about. Like in every aspect of your life, sometimes you have to sacrifice something to achieve success, so when game will be worth playing, for sure I will consider sacrificing something. Of course it is also important what part of my life or what thing would have to be sacrificed.
Nice to hear that somebody has normal working hours, for me sometimes it's different, I guess that depends on clients with who we are working.
Actually, it the first answer you mentioned one trick "shut down the computer and se ya tomorrow", and it's a good point to think about extra pay for working outside of work:)
I think in the same way as you, but sometimes when you need extra money, why you don't want to take one day extra to get X2 rate?
For your 4-th answer, I totally agree about mental trainers :)
Nice to hear that somebody has normal working hours, for me sometimes it's different, I guess that depends on clients with who we are working.
Actually, it the first answer you mentioned one trick "shut down the computer and se ya tomorrow", and it's a good point to think about extra pay for working outside of work:)
I think in the same way as you, but sometimes when you need extra money, why you don't want to take one day extra to get X2 rate?
For your 4-th answer, I totally agree about mental trainers :)
Thank you, Igor Goryszewski for your answers.
You mentioned that you don't mixed your professional and private life, so am I right that you don't have friends in your work?
For the second question, I was interested in tricks like turning off work phone after 7 p.m. or not checking mail after working hours, etc.
Paid one extra day sounds good :)
Thank you also for answer on the 2-nd question, this is a really good note :)
Imagine a situation when you get an opportunity to go to the USA, but your girlfriend/wife will stay in Poland, would you go for this sacrifice?
It is not easy to maintain such lifestyle especially when beside working you are also studying. I try to keep my balance by keeping my working hours strict, if I work then I focus on it completely if my shift has finished then I close my computer and do not think about it anymore.
2) Which tricks do you know to keep your work-life balance?
The important thing is not to worry too much about work. You must keep in mind your priorities and remember that work is not a goal of your life. Unless your work is pleasure to you, that is a different case.
3)Do you have a lot of overtimes in your work?
I do not have overtime as such in definition but sometimes I do stay some additional time because I am in the ‘zone’ and I would like to finish something.
4)What sacrifices are you willing to make for the promotion?
I have never really though about it, I do not think I care that much about money that I would make some big sacrifices e.g. often stay overtime. Like I said, I think work is not the main purpose of our life :)
I try to maintain the balance between work and private life as much as possible. In general I try not to take overtime unless it is an emergency. What's more, after work, I just try not to think about it anymore by organizing time for myself.
2) Which tricks do you know to keep your work-life balance?
It seems to me that the best trick to keep my work-life balance is not to think about work by doing things that just relax me.
3)Do you have a lot of overtimes in your work?
Yes, unfortunately, it happens that I have had to work overtime many times, although now I try to limit it to have more time for myself.
4)What sacrifices are you willing to make for the promotion?
To be honest, I never thought about it, so it's hard for me to say it now but I think that sacrifices such as changing the place of residence wouldn't be a problem for me if it was actually the work of my dreams,
It’s been a few years since I noticed how important it is to have a work-life balance and how difficult it may be at the same time. Nevertheless, I think that I’m quite good at maintaining it. Now I can recognise when I am tired and I need some relax or I can push myself to work if I see that I fall into some stagnation. I think that this the most important thing. To know yourself and your needs and limits.
2) Which tricks do you know to keep your work-life balance?
As I already said, the best way is to accept your needs and let yourself to rest if you eel like it. The worst thing to do is to feel bad about some leisure time or other pleasures. On the other hand, you have to have some self-control and know whether it is time to focus more on your work.
3)Do you have a lot of overtimes in your work?
In this moment I don’t work. I study and can say that I have a lot of overtime. After my classes and lectures I have to prepare some projects so I spend most of my free time on it. I have to work on them at weekends but still I try to find the time for other things which help me to relax.
4)What sacrifices are you willing to make for the promotion?
I still can’t say what I could sacrifice for the promotion. I just know that sometimes there are periods of time when you have to dedicate most of your time to work, but I really can’t say if I could make sacrifices. For me this is a very strong word.
In order to maintain a balance between work and private life, I use a very detailed day / week plan. It is very helpful because apart from working full-time, I develop my own company and I often find myself forgetting about my private life for the sake of work.
2) Which tricks do you know to keep your work-life balance?
Every week I create a schedule where I specify how much time I should spend to what and I try to stick to it.
3) Do you have a lot of overtimes in your work?
I do not work overtime in my work. But you can say that the time I spend overtime on developing my business is overtime.
4) What sacrifices are you willing to make for the promotion?
Overtime is not a problem for me so I can devote my free time to work.
Maintaining a work-life balance is extremely hard for me because I work with my parents. This is my curse and blessing at the same time. My work is easier and less stressful. I don’t have a boss and I earn more money. All of this sounds great but it’s not always like that. Sometimes family life is mixing with work. You don’t have proper “family time” without subjects relating to work. sometimes you unnecessarily argue about work without a professional approach.
2) Which tricks do you know to keep your work-life balance?
My best trick is to have some hobby. When I’m focused on some side project that I’m excited about.
3)Do you have a lot of overtime in your work?
I don’t have a clear schedule for my work. Sometimes I work over 60 hours per week and sometimes 5 hours.
4)What sacrifices are you willing to make for the promotion?
Right now I’m not focusing on promotion but rather on my clients. I’m willing to sacrifice a lot… I can work for long hours and completely reject my free time and friends.
1) How do you maintain your work-life balance?
I am still learning to maintain my work-life balance but I think that I am getting better at it. I used to have problems with giving myself a break and I would push myself to the limit of my capabilities. When I wasn’t doing that I would do absolutely nothing and blame myself for it. I somehow managed this problem by separating my workspace from my living space. When I leave my workspace after I am done I can actually feel the difference and not focus myself on the job because I am not in the place where I am supposed to be working.
2) Which tricks do you know to keep your work-life balance?
As I said, separating workspace from the living space is the best thing you can do. Having proper clothes for each activity might also help.
3) Do you have a lot of overtimes in your work?
When I had a typical job I didn’t have any timeframes in which I was supposed to be working so nearly everyday I ended up with some overtimes.
4) What sacrifices are you willing to make for the promotion?
Right now I am not in position to answer that question. I think I would be able to sacrifice some of my time off, but I would never sacrifice my life after work.
First of all I have to ask myself what is actually important in my life. I think that have our goals set and knowing what we are working for, is a very important foundation to build our work-life balance. Because of the fact that everyone has different priorities, there is no one best way for it.
2) Which tricks do you know to keep your work-life balance?
Taking care of every aspect in our life. If we focus too much on one of them, and neglect other, we will never feel fully satisfied. After some time we will always reach some point where we feel empty and that we are missing something in our life. Therefore we should take care on every aspect: educational, social, romantic, emotional, artistic and so on...
3)Do you have a lot of overtimes in your work?
I am working right now as a working student so I do not work full time. I have a lot of free time. Anyway my priority was never to earn a lot so I prefer to have less money than to work more that I am comfortable to.
4)What sacrifices are you willing to make for the promotion?
It is hard to say, everything is worth considering. If it is an one act of something then I might do it. But if the price is free time, family, private life. I do not thing I am willing to.
I work 8 hours a day and try not to exceed that. I think that my private life, family and mental health are more important subjects that my work. With that in mind it's not that hard to maintain healthy work-life balance. In the future I'd like to work 4 days a week.
2) Which tricks do you know to keep your work-life balance?
I think that a good thing is to listen to your partner, family, close friends etc. Those who care about you most likely will tell you when something is not right and for example you are working too hard. Also it's good to think about your mental health and ask yourself: am I feeling well? Am I tired? Is everything all right in my private life?
3)Do you have a lot of overtimes in your work?
None so far.
4)What sacrifices are you willing to make for the promotion?
I'm not thinking about it in that way. I'm trying to work as good as I can and at the same time enjoy what I'm doing. If that is enough to be promoted, then it's great. If not, I won't be working overtime all the time or sacrificing my mental health or family life to earn a little extra.