Work life balancing act

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Nothing profound to say here - except that I'm doing my best to try to get the work life balance right. I've always found it very difficult to manage this, spending a bit too much time at work - in recent years, I've tended to get to December every year with loads of my vacation time still intact, and I spend way too much time reading work-mail when not at work. Not good, have to get better at that.

So, having already spent an excellent weekend down in Wicklow with the whole family (Glynn, Lydia & Edu were visiting from New Zealand and Barcelona respectively and Duncan & Denise were down from Carlingford - a good time was had by all ), today, I took a day off. I've been pretty busy with work-related stuff of late, and I decided that having a non-work day would probably do me some good.

I'd originally intended to catch up on some OpenSolaris reading (which I don't usually class as "work", it not being my actual day job) that I've been meaning to investigate for ages, but then thought - "Hang on, that's still work-related. And just because we have Bananas signed up for a creche, doesn't mean we have to send her every day - besides, I've been doing more than enough OpenSolaris stuff recently. Time for a break."

So, I decided to look after my daughter all day - reading children's books, feeding her breakfast, lunch & a mid-afternoon snack, taking a walk around the gorgeous rose garden in St. Anne's Park, stopping on the way home for an ice-cream (for myself, not Bananas - sorry, but she's only 9.5 months old and ice-cream is not on the menu yet!) and generally having a pretty relaxing time of it.

Note to self: this was a really enjoyable day, and no computers necessary - really must do it again sometime (But yes, the fact that I'm blogging about work-life balance, probably means I haven't got there yet. I'll keep trying - any tips? )

Posted on: Jul 16, 2007

Posted by: timf

Category: Off-topic

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Comments:

It's a difficult balance; being gone completely for 2 weeks is tough on co-workers and customers; and really tough on you when you come back. When I go on vacation I try and tread water (ie. follow some mail threads but not wade in) just so that when I return - I'm not hit with 500 urgent emails - I find it less stressful that way. The best advice I can give is to find your 'meditation' - something that can take you away from it all and something you can do any time (ie. doesn't require a 2 week break) - cycing, running, weights, gardening, playing with the kids - whatever.

Posted by Rich Sharples on July 16, 2007 at 08:18 PM IST #

Working from home with people globally makes for no set working hours. What I do is I put in my work calendar those times that are non negotiable. Since I have two school age children I always block out from 3:00pm-4:30pm. This means I can pick them up from school, talk to them about their day and actually be involved in after school activities (like coaching their sports teams). Of course I make up that time by heading back into the home office after the kids are in bed, which isn't so great for the relationship with my wife :-(

Posted by Rob on July 16, 2007 at 09:13 PM IST #

I can offer no help on the balance issue (I've still been trying to find out how to do it 'right), but I did want to say that that's an adorable picture.

Posted by Mark J Musante on July 17, 2007 at 04:56 PM IST #

I completely empathize with you because I was in the same situation a couple of years back. I was doing waaay too much travel for work and my personal life suffered -- literally lost touch with friends and family. Is that the meaning of life? All work and no play? I hardly think so. That's why I started the www.ConciergeofCharlotte.com -- to not only help others achieve a healthy work-life balance, but to be the American workforce's biggest proponent for balance. We've posted links to articles online at our website and started a blog where we discuss work-life balance. I would recommend you prioritize your life -- that is, on paper. Sit down and write everything down no matter how silly or insiginficant your everyday or occasional tasks may seem to you. Then rank them in order of importance. This is where it gets tricky: determining where one task is important to you because you "want" to do it versus "need" to do it. Never forget your core values, i.e., family responsibilities, which includes your career since you need to provide support to your family. But prioritizing our life brings a sense of clarity and purpose when we bring pen to paper. Next, decide to be PROACTIVE in balancing your life. The reactive person says, "I can't" or "I have to" ... the proactive person says, "I choose to" or "I prefer". Are your lifestyle balancing "problems" direct, indirect, or out of your control (meaning, it's already happened ... it's in the past)? If it's direct, then you can influence the outcome since it directly relates to your own behavior. Do you find yourself procrastinating or unorganized? Perhaps giving too much focus to unimportant tasks? If it's indirect, then you can influence the behavior of others around you. Do you find yourself waiting to be told what to do? Do you "do as your told" or "think outside the box" and suggest a more efficient (and sometimes more effective) means to completing the task? I hope this has spawned some more thought about how we relate to others ... and how we choose to feel about those things that impact our lives. I strongly encourage feedback and more dialogue around this topic!! Start living a more healthy, balanced life!!

Posted by Jim Newman on July 18, 2007 at 04:10 PM IST #

Thanks for the tips all - I really appreciate it!

Posted by Tim Foster on July 19, 2007 at 11:05 PM IST #

Re Rich's comment << It's a difficult balance; being gone completely for 2 weeks is tough on co-workers and customers; and really tough on you when you come back. When I go on vacation I try and tread water (ie. follow some mail threads but not wade in) just so that when I return - I'm not hit with 500 urgent emails >> I believe this just illustrates that in some companies things are pushed too far. IMO "days off" should mean just that. You don't have to read email or other such. If you have to do that, or you see if you don't you have to work much harder when you come back, or you're afraid when a co-worker leaves on vacation because your workload doubles... that just means the company should hire more people, period.

Posted by Vlad on July 20, 2007 at 10:17 PM IST #

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