Work Life Balance

What exactly isWhat exactly is

What do we mean by Work Life balance ?

•Equal balance between work and personal activities? No

Life is and should be more fluid than that

•Is it same for everyone ? No

Varies from individual to individual, and varies over time…

on a daily basis as well over different phases of life…

There is no perfect, one-size fits all solution…

The best work-life balance is different for each of us because we all have different priorities and different lives

It is nothing….but giving yourself PERMISSION to have more integration between your professional and personal

life

It is nothing….but giving yourself PERMISSION to have more integration between your professional and personal

life

Revolves around two key everyday concepts relevant to each of us

•Daily Achievement

•Enjoyment

These two concepts are like the front and back of the coin of value in life. Do you know any "Successful" people who’re not as happy as they should be ?

Defining Work- life balance ?

FRIENDSFRIENDS

WORKWORKFAMILYFAMILY

SELFSELF

Defining Work- life balance….Meaningful daily achievement and enjoyment in each of the four life

quadrants:

A balanced life is one where we spread our energy and effort - emotional, intellectual, imaginative, spiritual and physical – between key areas of importance.                                                                                         

The Mathematician's The Mathematician's ViewView

A wheel has spokes to ensure its strength and balance. Unequal spokes can make the ride very bumpy, or completely break down

The Analyst ViewThe Analyst View

How do you define your own work life balance?• What are your Values?

– What’s important to you?– What makes you happy ?– What did you write down earlier?

• What are the Barriers?– time, stress, dual career family, lack of support from family,

supervisor, peers

WorkWork

RelationshipRelationship Self-CareSelf-Care

Work Life Triangle

(what we do, careers, housework, chores, etc)

(personal, friendships, partners, spouses, children)

(spiritual, physical, intellectual, emotional, health, wellness, exercise)

How do you achieve Balance?

• Its all in what you think and say to yourself.• Robert Ellis – Rational Emotive Therapy A, B, C’s of cognitive

therapy

– “If I continue to think as I have always thought, I will continue to act as I have always acted. If I continue to act as I have always acted, I will continue to get what I have always gotten.”

• Change the thought, changes the behavior and leads to a new consequence

• Practice, Practice, Practice,

Work Life Triangle - Work

Work is not where you go but what you do

So how do we go about achieving the Work-Life Balance ?

No cookie cutter solution.Each person has his/ her own formula defining the composition of career, family, friends and self into their integrated whole.

Dream When people's lives are out of balance they are unable to identify the obvious options for themselves and their families

Be Selfish Yourself First U are no good to anyone if U yourself are indisposed

Focus on whatever u are doing. Maximize your productivity at work and don’t let unfinished business carry over into your personal time.Always put in your best effort.. Even if its not your core competence

Be Organized. Disorganisation is the theft of time. Try to manage your day, instead of having the day manage you.

Make lists. Use technologies like PDA to offload the stress of remembering

Prioritize. Lists invariably become lengthy. Identify those which contribute towards a balance between work and life

Don't procrastinate. Why invite stress to build up. It is only a compounding multiplier leading you in one direction only

Be flexible. Change is imminent. Those who accept this and work around change are the most productive, best-adjusted individuals

Plan, but do not run your life on a time table. Its important to prioritise, but be mindful that nothing is static

Don't be a slave to your e-mail or to phone callsWith Technological advances … peoples expectation of response has risen proportionately.The need to be needed is addictive One needs 'downtime' to refresh mentally, emotionally or physically.

Know your weakness and strengthsImprove your skills as necessary to enhance your productivity and reduce your stress.

Be forgiving, especially of yourself. You are human. You will make mistakes and fall short of the ideal, including your own. Don't wallow in guilt. Learn from your mistakes.

Set boundaries and learn to say no. Being a good employee, spouse, parent, and friend doesn't mean blindly giving into everyone else's demands and spending all your time and energy doing for others as they dictate.

Work Life Triangle - Relationships

Personal relationships are the fertile soil

from which all advancement...all

success... all achievement in real

life grows

Don’t let that day come for your loved ones without telling them what they mean to youHang out with your family or treasured friends. Talk to them. Listen to them. Understand them. Spending a little time with someone shows that you care, shows that they are important enough that you’ve chosen — out of all the things to do on your busy schedule — to find the time for them.

Value the relationshipsTruly connect with lovable ones through good conversation. Many times its our actions, not just our words, that really speak what our hearts feel.

Taking the time to connect with those you love will bring you true happiness. The more you do it, the happier you’ll be.

Team• Chose the right team members,

better than yourself … invest time in

the process• Know your team members,

colleagues & supervisors … their

strengths and weakness. • Monitor initial engagements .. Just

like a life guard monitors new

swimmers• Trust them and delegate … make

yourself dispensable, so that u can

play a larger role in strategic

initiatives and career development

of team members

Don’t try to soldier along on your own without asking for help … it can only result in a sense of isolation, martyrdom and exhaustion.

Work Life Triangle – Self Care

Take time for yourself. This may sound difficult for people who believe they are in very responsible position … who think they are indispensable.Find opportunities within the busy work schedule

Take more Frequent though short breaks

Establish good, supportive relationships, both at work and home. Give up the hesitation of knowing your colleagues better. Its important to foster real teamwork and create an environment in which employees respect and are willing to assist each other. Children frequently enjoy being a useful member of the family - especially if they understand the importance of it.

Try the Home working (tele working) model to address those pressing personal/ family needs.

Worry , but only to the point it helps

Work-life Balance Exercise #1

Sunil is 45-year old man and an only child whose elderly, widowed mom has Alzheimer's disease. Sunil needs to aid his mom with personal needs as well as such things as cooking, housework, buying groceries, etc. Sunil is also a sales representative for an alarm company and must put in endless hours at the office in order to get a promotion to district sales manager.

What can Sunil do to balance his work and non-work lives?What can Sunil’s organization do to help him balance his work and non-work lives?

Work-life Balance Exercise #2

Rita is a 26-year old wife and new mother. She has just returned to work after a 6-week maternity leave and found out that her husband, Prashant, was laid off. Rita and Prashant are both paying off student loans, they just put their new baby into a great daycare facility and bought a new car after the old one broke down.

How can Rita work toward balancing her work and non-work lives?

How can Prashant help?

How can Rita and Prashant work together so that they each have balance?

Open House