What does work-life balance mean anyway?
Author: Charlotte Burton

The term work-life balance is bandied around so much these days, but do you really know what it means? Can you be balanced? Can you actually make it work for you?

What most people mean by it is less work, more play.

But what about the "balance" part of it? The word balance means "Noun: an equal distribution of weight..., a condition of steadiness..." or as a verb "to bring into or keep in a steady condition" (Heinemann English Dictionary).

It would be so easy just to say divide your time to ensure that you spend enough time doing all the things you want to do, such as seeing friends and family, going to the gym, going on holiday, etc etc. Problem is, most people who do this as an exercise with me say (apparently in jest) that they wouldn't have any time at all for work if they had the full choice of where to devote their time and energies.

So why don't you enjoy your work enough to want to put it near the top of your priority list? Is it that the Protestant work ethic has disappeared, is it that you only do what you do because you "have" to (to pay bills etc). But that's another article for me to write on how to find out what work you would really want to get up in the morning for.

There is a great story I have heard in many forms from many sources. It goes something like this: there was a man who visited a circus and when he saw the clown balancing several objects on his person simultaneously he was so impressed he sought out the clown after the show. The man asked the clown how he managed to keep all the objects in such perfect balance. The clown replied, that he wasn't balancing the objects at all, he was trying to keep them all from crashing to the ground.

The moral of course, is that balance is not a perfect state, there are always little fluctuations going on to maintain what appears to be balance. Look at a gymnast doing a handstand - there are all the muscles in the body subtly moving and straining to keep the gymnast balanced on two hands.

So what does this mean in terms of work-life balance? Basically, it means that you need to go further than simply dividing your time so you get to do what you want to do (as well as getting to do the things you "have" to do). It means that you have to be able to react to any current situation and make allowances for it, so that you can keep doing what you want to do.

In real terms, this means that if you're caught in traffic and are late, you are able to balance what is on your list and still get things done. This might mean that something gets postponed, or deleted from the list. Or it might mean that you're up late finishing the chores, or have to get up early to finish that report.

Balance means that nothing is absolutely static and unchanging - routines cannot be rigid and unchangeable. They must be flexible - which means you, as the master/mistress of your routines, must be flexible to maintain a balance. If you're serious about having work-life balance, this means that you must also be able to make the decisions as to what you are to do in any given moment.

So where in your life are you unbalanced?






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Charlotte Burton works with people who are dedicated to having fulfilled careers, and having enough time left over to have an fulfilled life as well. To learn more, please go to http://www.lifeisvital.com

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