Work-Life Balance: An Elusion or Illusion?
Hello! My name is Mujidah and I will be sharing my experience and thoughts about work-life balance today.
I know about the concept of work-life balance. I have tried to achieve it to no avail to the extent that I always said there’s nothing like work-life balance in reality. But December 2022 taught me differently.
After a whole year of back to back and sometimes overlapping programmes, I realised I couldn’t sleep, eat or work. I was so unmotivated. I would simply wake up, make light food for my kids and lie on the bed. No thoughts or anything. They thought I was sick. Yes, I was psychologically sick.
I suffered burn-out; it was bad.
Then I remembered I hardly rested in 2022. I spoke to a friend who said she experienced something similar. I then figured some of us might benefit from the topic.
Work-life balance refers to an individual’s ability to schedule their professional and personal hours to live a healthy and serene life.
While it affects both men and women, work-life balance is often discussed more among women issue due to the popular mindset where the woman is considered primarily responsible for the smooth running of the family irrespective of her job profile and official responsibilities.
As women, so much is expected of us at every single point in time. We are hardly allowed to have excuses — as wives, mothers, daughters, daughters-in-law, neighbours, workers — we must be on top of our game and it tells on our health!
While juggling all our balls, we often lose out on some parts of our lives. For example, working long hours may affect our children’s welfare and house chores if there is no one to help. Weekends that we need to rest and bond with our families may be what our extended family expects us to use with them and we oblige in order not to earn a bad name. This is different for everyone but the concept is the same — we end up exhausted with little or no time to fill the cup we are pouring from; we get fed up and yell at our children and those close to us.
The above describes some of the signs of burnout; what happens when we are too stressed without caring for ourselves. Other signs of burnout include having a sense of failure and self-doubt, feeling helpless, trapped, and defeated. One may also feel detached and alone in the world plus loss of motivation to engage in our usual activities, pessimism and so on.
I will go on to share the benefits of having work life balance.
These are top 10 reasons you should try to achieve work-life balance:
- Less Stress
- Improved mental health
- Better physical health, less instances of sickness and absenteeism
- Enhances mindfulness
- Better relationships
- Increased work efficiency, creativity and productivity
- Higher chances of a happier and more fulfilled life
If you are a business owner, when your employees have a healthy work-life balance, your business gets better because you get:
- A happier, less stressed workforce
- Staff who feel valued and that their personal life is important
- Improvements in employee mental health and well-being
- More engaged staff with less employee turnover
- Greater employee loyalty, commitment and motivation
- Increase competitiveness and productivity
- Highly motivated staff that provide great customer service
- More positive brand visibility among your clients and other stakeholders.
In all, you gain!
Now, here are some tips to achieve this elusive work-life balance:
- Time management
Our responses to situations are different. Therefore, there is no hard and fast rule to follow about managing your time but if you take a few minutes to think through your day and plan your activities as per your needs and suitability, it will make life easier.
Now, for people who work from home, it’s easy to think we are in control of our time but it is only an advantage if well managed.
The concept of ‘work from anywhere’ is particularly detrimental to segregating work-life timing. And when work and living space merge, it is often difficult not to reach out to work. If you don’t want it to result in doing too much or too little work, having that inner discipline to not work beyond and before a certain time helps. And although it is so easy to start working from the comfort of your bed, having a designated workspace (even if it is a table and chair no one else uses) will help you manage time better.
2. Follow a schedule
Planning and sticking to a schedule will show you what you do with your time. Set priorities and create a schedule around these priorities. There has to be a designated time allocated to work and personal life that you follow. For instance, since January, I have been working between 8:30am and 3:30pm. Outside that is for me to focus on personal stuff. I still struggle to keep to that time sometimes though.
Learn to say no to expectations from work or even your loved ones. This will ensure you don’t get caught trying to play catch up.
3. Say no to procrastination (A reminder to myself first)
Procrastination is a common obstacle many people face. You know you have a tight schedule, but you wait until the last hour to complete it and allow your work and personal life to merge because you are habituated to procrastination. Once this habit starts, it’s challenging to stop. If you are someone who looks at tasks or assignments and is easily overwhelmed, breaking things down to achievable goals will set you rolling.
Whenever you find yourself procrastinating, you can also think of how much free time you will have after this task is done and how you will spend that time. Reward yourself by doing things you love once you execute a task on time. A habit is cultivated over time and repeated actions. If you teach your brain not to hesitate and start working on a task, your mind will learn.
4. Avoid distractions
Do you find yourself going from one email to the other or sifting through messages and getting overwhelmed by work? You must have experienced your phone getting off with an alert and getting distracted. Yet, merely checking the emails or messages doesn’t get the job done.
WhatsApp left the chat. (lol)
Suddenly it is 2 hours past. You will be amazed at the number of distractions around you and how much time they consume. Help yourself to be more productive and manage time by switching off notifications on your phone or computer. You can also keep your phone silent and close your windows until a task is complete. Create a clutter-free workspace, and ensure that you limit physical distractions, to help you achieve work life balance in the interim.
5. Set boundaries
Wondering how to set boundaries to strike a balance between your personal and professional life? Here are some tips!
Limit work/life overlap by creating boundaries. You can choose not to entertain work after a certain time.
Ask your family and loved ones not to interrupt you while working unless it is an emergency.
* Set at least one day a week to spend on yourself or your loved ones without any work distractions.
6. Self care
A daily dose of self-care includes some easy to do tips for yourself. Every day, you should also prioritise your ‘me’ time, drink enough water or other liquids (essentially stay hydrated), eat healthy meals, get enough sleep, engage in exercises, stay connected to people who make you feel good (Say No TO Negative Vibes) and practise some sort mindfulness.
I hope this helps you and me to achieve a better work-life balance. A perfect one might just exist in Mars!
