Work/Life Balance: Keep Your Sanity!

Q. I’ve been working longer hours to keep up with work demands and am getting some strong signals from my family that I’ve lost focus. I like what I’m doing, and

management likes my work. Am I on the right track or should I start re-evaluating my work/life balance? — Bill F.

A. Only you can decide what’s right for your life—but I’ll give you a few ideas to think about. Then it’s time to sit down with your family and decide what’s best for everyone. Developing a work/life balance is about adjusting work patterns, so you can combine work with your other responsibilities and interests. You have only one life to live—this isn’t a rehearsal—and you have the right to decide what’s important in your life.

Adjusting your work schedule to meet home responsibilities without jeopardizing your career helps you create a happier, less stressed lifestyle. Here are some thoughts on promoting a good work/life balance:

First, check your work behaviors. Some telltale signs of poor work/life balance include:

• Working a lot of overtime—and liking it

• Disappointment in having to taking time off to deal with family “emergencies”

or needs

• High levels of stress

• Feeling distant from family and friends

• A growing focus on work as your main source of enjoyment

• Few or no hobbies

Is Your Life in Balance? Work/Life Balance Quiz

Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D. , a work/life specialist (randall@quintcareers.com), says that

everyone faces the issue of time/life management, but as people deal with more and more work issues, work days often seem to last long into the night and vacation and leisure time are eaten up with issues other than relaxation and personal fulfillment. Just look at some of the activities we juggle today:

• Having to work at more than one job

• Fighting long commutes

• Managing a household

• Attending school or other training

• Raising one or more children

• Responding to increasing work and time pressures

• Dealing with aging parents, or a sick relative.

• Finding time to rest or enjoy a hobby

A recent study of more than 50,000 employees from a variety of manufacturing and service organizations found that two out of every five employees are dissatisfied with the balance between their work and their personal lives. The lack of balance “is due to long work hours, changing demographics, more time in the car, the deterioration of boundaries between work and home, and increased work pressure,” says the study’s author, Bruce Katcher, president of the Discovery Group, a management consulting firm.

How much is work invading your personal life? Check this list and see how many behaviors apply to you:

• You find yourself spending more and more time on work-related projects.

• You often feel you don’t have any time for yourself—or for your family and

friends.

• No matter what you do, it seems that every minute of every day is always

scheduled for something.

• Sometimes you feel as though you've lost sight of who you are and why you

chose your job/career.

• You can’t remember the last time you were able to find the time to take a day off

to do something fun -- just for yourself.

• You feel stressed out most of the time.

• You can’t remember the last time you used all your allotted vacation and

personal days.

• It sometimes feels as though you never have time to catch your breath

before you have to move on to the next project/crisis.

• You can’t remember the last time you read -- and finished -- a book purely for

pleasure.

• You wish you had more time for some outside interests and hobbies.

• You often feel exhausted -- even early in the week.

• You can’t remember the last time you went to the movies or visited a museum or

attended some other cultural event.

• You do what you do because so many people (children, partners, parents) depend

on you for support.

• You’ve missed many of your family’s important events because of work-related

time pressures and responsibilities.

• You almost always bring work home.

Want to put more balance in your life? Stop doing the things you checked on this list.