We left off on the series of Work-Life Balance by giving a definition of Work-Life Balance. Now, we get to the heart of Work-Life Balance.
Work-Life balance, as we defined, is the "art" of juggling work with your personal life and making sure that your quality of life would be at its best. This means that you would be able to enjoy your family life, your friendships, and have a healthy sense of well-being, even as you climb the corporate ladder.
This is easier said than done, really. Even the most highly successful executives, consultants and other top-level professionals have a bit of difficulty making sure that their work does not eat into their quality of life. In fact, this demographic is the most susceptible to work-life imbalances. Being very busy and with a whole lot of responsibilities, most top level professionals have a tendency to neglect their personal lives in favor of their corporate lives.
Work-Life Balance, then, is not equated to success. It is better associated with contentment. Two stories show possibly the best pictures of contentment in life:
The story of the Crafton Family, who embarked on a 7-year journey, alone at sea, after the Crafton heads of the household realized that despite their career and material success, they were living an imbalanced life. Being alone at sea and stripped of modern life's oft-neglected luxuries, the family was able to grow together and know each other better. The move helped them understand what were most important in life.
The story of Allen and Violet Large, who gave away a whopping $11.2 Million, after winning in a Lotto draw. What's more touching is how Allen describes their fortune: "That money that we won was nothing," Allen added. "We have each other."
These two are the best pictures of what it is to get things right. Do you really need all that much? Do you really need three houses, five cars and a few hundred million dollars or pesos in the bank? How much is truly enough for you?
One major reason why people work their butts off in their careers is that gaping, gnawing WANT for more. It's not actually a need, it's this restless eye -- on other people's stuff. If it's not that, it's this restless eye -- for more stuff, just because these stuff promise to make us look better, feel better... These stuff even promise us contentment. But at the end of the day, we find that even though we've acquired these things, we still don't feel content.
That being said, the heart of work-life balance is in understanding when enough is enough.
When you know what "enough" means, you won't work beyond what's needed. When you know what "enough" means, you won't be on a neverending chase to the better job or the greener pasture.
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Here's the list of the whole Work-Life Balance Series:
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