This question have bothered me too in past when i had a regular job, I used to think “Is there something wrong with my work life balance? ”
Is it okay that i spend more time at work?
Am i okay?
I chose to do something about it and could only see clearly what i wanted! Recently i was requested to write about my thoughts on Work-Life balance.
I am not an expert but like many of you i am sharing a point of view and i could be wrong! So i really appreciate that you are reading further and considering this just as a view point and not necessarily your truth.
A video widely circulated on Social media emphasised that “You only live 7 years”, and the rest pass by without you even knowing where it went. Logically it makes sense; However since when do we as a mass follow all logics presented to us.
Let us look at the life span average Worldwide, the average life expectancy according to United Nations WorldPopulation Prospects 2015 Revision, 69 years (67 years for males and 71.1 years for females) for 2016.
Out of this 69 Years, Broadly 8 Hours per day goes into sleeping, 8 Hours at Work and the Balance 8 Hours is what you spend with friends, family, travelling and other chores.
Let us look at few scenarios that depicts these 8 Hours and how they interact with the other area and the consequences.
1. Our Expectation 
We love to believe deep down that Life is Fair and we live in an Ideal Situation. This is how we look at our Life with respect to what our expectation is! An Ideal Situation where you have uninterrupted full 8 Hours of Sleep, Fix 8 Hours of Work and 8 Hours available for your Personal Life.
This is Ideal and a lot of us are running after the Mirage which keeps us running indefinitely and getting frustrated.
However this is not unachievable for some people who work from home, people opting for jobs closer to Home and Homemakers.
2. Stress and Burnout
In this situation people tend to experience immense stress and eventually Burnout. This tend to happen when fear takes over, when priorities are entangled, cluttered and are in conflicts. It also happens when one is exposed to a Highly competitive culture or insecure environment. we are used to broom important concerns under the carpet of ambition only to find hollow success in the end and realising that the race we were running or winning was not the one that we wanted to.
if you look at the Overlap areas, These are taken up by Work commutation, Social Media, Mobile, Watching TV. The only way to get some balance is to rearrange priorities and push aside anything that takes up your time.
Many years back i stopped watching TV completely, It was once when i sat down to sharpen my axe and find where exactly my time is going only to realise that about 25+ Hours went into watching TV.
What was TV for me then is now Social Media and Mobile addiction for others. It seems as if we are living in a state of slumber, keeping our minds busy; Its a state of mindlessness rather than mindfulness.
The world as communication jungle , where its very noisy, There are lot of insignificant (individualistic) things around us that takes away our time and attention that we are used to keep ourself engaged. Even worse is we move from one addiction to another; and when few of us have nothing to do, we take up alcohol to numb our senses. Think about it ……The moments of friendship that we enjoyed in our childhood is replaced by coming together only to have drinks and numb ourself to all that we enjoyed then.
3. Living on Weekends
This is a norm they are trying to achieve by compensating with 2 days weekend; But it seems as if life is loved on weekends alone; and the trend have picked up fast enough across the world.
TGIF or “thank God its Friday” Syndrome, A Friday that is spent in a hurry only to rush home or to nearest pub an hour earlier than usual. Friday evenings spent meeting friends, partying hard; Lazing at home all the weekend until Monday comes and one wonders where did the weekend go?
Until the day they wake up and wanting to add more meaning to their life; And this appears to be the best coping mechanism. Here one is not living the life they want; But taking out their angst and seeking vengeance on the infringement of their personal life.
However there are others who rather than complain have accepted the life they have chosen and use this time effectively, unwind with family, taken up a hobby, travel to a weekend destination as well as plan their week ahead.
4. Life Driven by Passion
In this case, one is driven by passion and love for the work that they do. Knowing what you are passionate about is easy however for most its a life long journey and a few others never able to find their True Passion.
One can see people leading life driven by passion as Soldiers, Doctors, Coaches, Researchers, Wild Life experts, Palaeontologists, Travellers, Bloggers.
They keep doing what they do without any regret or complain. They put their heart and soul into what they do; they do not run after the Material Pleasures or Money; to them only thing that matters is the achievement through their passion.
Given a choice they would lead life the way they did and the only thing they might change is start much earlier than they did. This is the state of being fearless; doing what they love and loving what they do!
This may seem glorified, But i am not saying that all of us should be taking this approach; I mean each of us have a unique place to hold and it is not pre-decided but it is your choice to make and live by one way or another.
All you need is to make peace with your choice or amend what is not okay with you.
It is critical for us to maintain a Work-Life balance and not compromise on sleep; The personal Life time is required for sharpening the Axe Often, For optimum Output the three areas need to be Balanced.
Each to his own, There is no Thumb rule to how you live life or other should. Consider life an Examination venue, where each came with a unique set of question paper and there is no point to copying the answer from someone else. Since your question is not same as the other person; and you have to make your own set of choices and your own answer.
Since there are too many variables and Unique life styles and career options, It is obvious to have some overlaps in Work-Life areas; But you have a choice on how to deal with it and are not in reality helpless.
Work Life Balance is a Myth to all those who are unable to Balance what they want and what they have based on the set of choices they have made; However it is a reality for those who were able get an empowering clarity and found their answers and are leading a life of fulfilment.
As a Life coach, Each of my client brought up this as an area of concern and as outcome got their unique answer that they chose to make their life fulfilling.
So what are you choosing to do about it?
Life is Good, Cheers!
Rohit (Geet) Batra
(Marshall Goldsmith & GrowMore Certified Coach)
Mobile – 9811175380
Email – coach@geetbatra.com
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