Balance Your Life

ORG: Balance Your Life

We’ve all heard about the work-life balance, a small industry has been started on the back of it with books, TV shows, speakers, personal motivation coaches, etc. etc. all coming at us with the same message – we need to balance the competing requirements of work and life.

All well and good.  But how does that relate to people who have been made redundant?  We have no ‘work’ to balance, and sometimes the ‘life’ side is suffering a lot due to that.

From my point of view the most important thing to do is to forget about the work-life split and see it all as your life.  It is your life when you are at home with your family, it’s your life when you are at a desk at work, it’s your life on the commute home, it’s your life when you are applying for jobs or learning new skills, etc.

So how do you split things so that you can see to it that your life is balanced?  Focus on Areas of Responsibility.

I am responsible for finding work, responsible for keeping the flat clean and tidy, for looking after my child and partner, responsible for keeping my dream projects moving, for making sure that we are all kept entertained, that my relationship is healthy and happy, the list goes on.  And that is a key as well – make a list of these areas.

Having a list of these general Areas of Responsibility helps to remind you how complex your life is beyond simple work-life, but also acts as a catalyst to remind you that while you’ve been moving forward with your projects, your relationship hasn’t had much special time spent on it.

So make a list, check it regularly and keep your whole life in balance.

We’ve all heard about the work-life balance, a small industry has been started on the back of it with books, TV shows, speakers, personal motivation coaches, etc. etc. all coming at us with the same message – we need to balance the competing requirements of work and life.

All well and good.  But how does that relate to people who have been made redundant?  We have no ‘work’ to balance, and sometimes the ‘life’ side is suffering a lot due to that.

From my point of view the most important thing to do is to forget about the work-life split and see it all as your life.  It is your life when you are at home with your family, it’s your life when you are at a desk at work, it’s your life on the commute home, it’s your life when you are applying for jobs or learning new skills, etc.

So how do you split things so that you can see to it that your life is balanced?  Focus on Areas of Responsibility.

I am responsible for finding work, responsible for keeping the flat clean and tidy, for looking after my child and partner, responsible for keeping my dream projects moving, for making sure that we are all kept entertained, that my relationship is healthy and happy, the list goes on.  And that is a key as well – make a list of these areas.

Having a list of these general Areas of Responsibility helps to remind you how complex your life is beyond simple work-life, but also acts as a catalyst to remind you that while you’ve been moving forward with your projects, your relationship hasn’t had much special time spent on it.

So make a list, check it regularly and keep your whole life in balance.