Work-Life Balance: What It Is and How to Achieve Yours
Work-Life Balance: What It Is and How to Achieve Yours Oni Lestari Virtual assistant, copywriter, SEO-expert March 20, 2024 | Remote Working Tips The concept of work-life balance often feels like a distant dream when our days are filled with busy schedules and endless responsibilities. Like climbing a mountain, It’s tough, sometimes it’s hard to catch a breath. It takes a lot of effort and feels like we’re carrying a heavy load. Everything could go wrong if we make a mistake, even a small one. And sometimes it makes us wonder, is work-life balance fact or fiction? Is it important to achieve it? And how we can achieve it? Our beliefs and perception of work-life balance affect our mindset and actions about how we manage our time and what we think is possible. Whether we think it is true or not, it affects how we act. So, to answer all the questions above and shape our perception of work-life balance, let’s dive into: The History of Work-Life Balance It’s important to know where things started and why to understand it better. So, let’s back to the moment when the concept of work-life balance was born. Work-life balance was started in the United Kingdom in the 80s as an issue in the Women’s Liberation Movement. This movement pushed for women to have the option of flexible work hours and maternity leave. At that time, people mostly expected women to have a career and still be in charge of the family and home. It relates to women’s role in male-female relationships when taking care of the house. Like cooking, cleaning, taking care of the kids, and many more things. Women felt pulled in many directions because of the responsibility to handle both home tasks and a career. This is when the idea of balancing work and life became important. Work-Life Balance in This Era Things haven’t changed much. The expectation for women to work and take care of the family and home still seems pretty similar to what we see today. And with the technology changing, achieving work-life balance isn’t just a problem for women but becomes a challenge for everyone. Technology changes how we work Technology offers great flexibility and connectivity but also blurs the lines between professional and personal life. The existence of smartphones, email, and remote work tools means that workers are often expected to be available around the clock. It contributes to an ‘always on’ culture. In today’s competitive job market, many workers also worry about taking time off or saying no to more work. It relates to job insecurity because it makes people think they don’t care about the job. Rising expectations make them end up putting work before their personal life. All of that affects how millennials (1981-1996) and Gen Z (1997-2012) take their action and decisions regarding work-life balance. Work-life balance in today’s generation Millennials focus more on their lifestyle compared to older generations. But the main difference is that Millenials prefer jobs that match their values. They want to enjoy their work because they don’t see it as separated from their life. For them, life and work mix instead of being separated parts. And there’s Gen Z, who is just starting to work. It seems they want their jobs to be even more meaningful than millennials do. A study by Dynamic Signal found that they value having a community at work. When they pick a job, they care more about having a balance between work and life, and also about their happiness. Rather than about how much they make or the company’s reputation The truth of work-life balance So, should you achieve a work-life balance? Some of you might think work-life balance is important, but even if you’re not perfectly balanced, that’s okay. Being imperfect at something doesn’t mean you’re a failure. It simply means you’re human. And if you believe that work-life balance is impossible, you might become a workaholic and continue being overwhelmed. Because, again, our beliefs and perception of work-life balance affect our mindset and actions about how we manage our time and what we think is possible. The important thing isn’t about whether work-life balance is true or not, but having a clear picture of the life you desire. How to Set Up Boundaries Now that we’ve learned about work-life balance, why it matters, and how people see it these days, let’s talk about how to achieve it. One way to do this is by setting clear boundaries. What is boundaries Boundaries are something that makes us more present, not distracted, and give all the attention to what we care about. Without boundaries, work keeps expanding because there’s no stop time. When our focus is split between work and our personal life. We are unable to devote ourselves to either fully. Imagine when we’re having dinner with family or friends while checking phones constantly, worried about the project and other tasks. We might think it’s a productive way to do two things at the same time. But actually, we’re not paying attention to either because we’re not being present. After some time, it might seem like we’re always working and our work-life balance isn’t right even though we’re not getting more work done. It’s like we’re always working but there’s always more work left. This can be confusing and frustrating. So, here’s the step to make your boundaries more clear: Define your boundaries Don’t let someone define your boundaries, do it yourself. Because when you let someone else drive you, don’t be surprised if you don’t like the direction your time is taking. To do it, you need to make a visual of what condition you’re okay and not okay with. ‘Am I okay doing work after my work hours are done?’‘Am I okay with canceling plans to work for an important client?’‘Am I okay with missing dinner and bedtime stories with my kids, to talk on the phone with my boss?’ Then, put them into a decision and
