What You Need to Know About Work:Life Balance
One of the most important things to know about Work:Life Balance is it’s unique to every individual person. Your definition of balance takes into account where you draw energy from, what matters most to you, and what requirements exist (ex. single parent vs. single person). What works for one person may not work for another so it’s important that we start with an understanding of what our definition of work:life balance is.
On the Rising Tide podcast and through conversations with successful women, I've learned the following things about Work:Life Balance
It's fluid
Holding yourself to a standard to have balance every day or even every week is aggressive, and borderline cruel. It's adding undue pressure on yourself when there is already no shortage of this in your life. Instead, it's important to monitor the ebbs and flow. For example, if you have a critical deadline or perhaps you are coming up on the end of the quarter, this may mean work demands more of your attention and other things like exercise or quality time with your family temporarily suffer. That's fine as long as it's TEMPORARY and you have time set aside to re-establish balance.
It is highly personal
Balance is not about a timesheet that reads 50% work/50% personal. Defining balance is about energy management. You know when you are out of whack because it feels like burnout. It's important to work things into your day and week that are just for you. And if you find yourself in a week that won't allow for that, what will you do to ensure you regain balance?
No comparisons
Theodore Roosevelt says it best: “Comparison is the thief of joy.” Remember, work:life balance is highly personal. I find sometimes the most obvious things are what trips us up the most. Your situation and circumstances are unique. The only thing that matters is whether or not you feel balanced, truly balanced (let's not lie to ourselves).
It changes over time
Life is ever evolving and the demands on you will continuously change depending on your stage of life and career. It's healthy to take inventory at least 2x/year to see if you need to make adjustments. This gives you freedom from worrying that things will get out of hand because you have consistently planned time for a gut check. It will also be a place to catch you if you have fallen into some bad habits and need a re-adjustment.
At the end of the day, work:life balance is a journey not a destination. Expecting perfection is a fool’s errand. Instead find joy in the process and make sure to give yourself grace on this journey. We are all a work in progress.
If you want to listen to some real life examples of finding work:life examples, listen to this episode with Kathryn O’Day where she discusses how work:life balance has been key to her ability to scale a career in high growth startups.