Do you choose to work instead of reading, running, watching movies or playing games?
Do your friends or family say that you spend too much time working?
Can your work be your hobby when you really love what you do?
When I first started my company, it was called WorkWell Life Balance Solutions. I gave that up because I realized that for most people, work-life balance doesn’t exist and there is never an actual balance depending on where you are in your life. At some points, if you have a new baby, it may be time to focus on your family and you just want to get by with what you need to at work. If you are in the throes of your career, you can climb the ladder as high as you need to.
But what about when you love your job or business so much it spills over into your personal time?
To me, work-life balance means I don’t feel like I’m neglecting something that’s important to me. When I worked in corporate, I resented working long hours because unless I was traveling somewhere overseas, I wanted my extra time to be my time. To hang out with my hubby or friends, to train for races, read and watch movies. Now that I own my business, I am excited to be reading business and marketing books, attending mastermind classes, coach clients, create presentations, give workshops, write and create strategies to make a team of 10 employees have more effective email communication.
I’ve had people act like they’ve ‘caught me’ because I work on Saturdays. I like working on Saturday sometimes because it’s quiet and I can really focus. I never feel like I’m missing out because it’s Saturday, but I certainly don’t turn down invitations either. I also might be working on Saturday because I have more control of my schedule and I’ve spent an entire week day running errands, meeting a girlfriend for coffee and only working 2-3 hours.
I don’t ever feel like I’m overworked because I love what I do and I’m not neglecting anything.
If you are an employee, you may also enjoy your job. You may dig it so much that you choose not to do some things because you genuinely want to be working or creating, not because you feel forced to. As long as no one you love feels neglected and you’re still putting your health first (because you have nothing without your health), then you do have balance.
Work-life balance isn’t the number of hours in a day or days in a week.
Work-life balance, in my definition, is a feeling.
Do you feel that you have work-life balance? If not, what can you do to create more space?
