Article: Is Work-Life balance only an idealistic term?

Life @ Work

Is Work-Life balance only an idealistic term?

Work-life balance however much seems impossible, is achievable if dealt with practically

Have any of us actually managed to achieve this idealistic, feel good term ‘Work-Life Balance’? Most of us spend time trying to catch up with either ‘work’ or ‘life’ at various points of time in life. The resultant guilt is an additional, unnecessary stress - guilt of not spending enough time with your family or that of retiring early in the day to relax with your loved ones! Would it then just not be better to throw this idealistic term out of the window?

Jon Gordon, author of The Energy Bus, among other bestsellers, has an answer. He explains the fault is that we try to achieve this balance on a day to day basis. There is no denying that the balance is necessary but we’d be better off trying to achieve it on a weekly, monthly and annual basis. There are tough weeks at work when maximum attention would go there. Similarly, there are relatively light weeks when personal life or family can get more attention.

Women, especially, face a bigger challenge in Indian families. Indra Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo, has her way of managing work-life balance. They've numerous roles – employee, daughter, daughter in law, wife, mother, etc. There is no way she can do justice to all roles on her own. She needs to decide at many points in a day as to which role to take up. While she takes up one role, she needs to train her family and her subordinates at work so that her other functions are seamlessly dealt with!

So, work-life balance cannot be idealistic, it requires a practical approach. You need to guiltlessly choose your priorities and reach out for external help to ensure maximum responsibilities are dealt with.

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Topics: Life @ Work, #BestPractices

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