Misconceptualising what it means to achieve a healthy ‘work-life balance’ is the main reason many business individuals fail at successfully materialising one in their lives. It is often misunderstood as a balancing between work and personal activities, something that is fixed, or that there is one perfect version that suits every person’s life.
The fact remains that life is too fluid to expect a perfectly equal balance. Furthermore, this rigid balancing act is usually unrewarding and unrealistic.
The fluidity of life doesn’t allow for achieving a fixed balance for the rest of your life – you marry, you have kids or your jobs change – nothing is fixed so you can’t expect your balance to be. Finally, there isn’t a perfect fit because we all lead different lives and are all different individuals.
In its simplest form a healthy work-life balance has little to do with an actual balancing act, but rather daily achievement and enjoyment. These two concepts incorporate all the joys of life and operate like two sides of a coin. Like a coin, you cannot have one side without the other. For example, to value achievement over enjoyment is the core reason many ‘successful’ people aren’t necessarily healthy.
The true meaning of achievement finds itself feeding from the true meaning of enjoyment which incorporates pride, satisfaction, happiness, celebration, love, and a sense of well-being. To truly achieve something is to tick a healthy number of these boxes. To expect to tick every box leads one towards the ‘As soon as I…’. trap.
A good materialisation of these two concepts is as simple as asking yourself at the end of every day ‘Have I achieved/enjoyed something today?’. If the answer is yes you will most likely live happily for the rest of your life. If the answer is no you are most likely not being attentive towards the many things that happen in your day that mark the categories for enjoyment or achievement. It all comes down to perspective and setting yourself realisable goals every day.
To effectively materialise these concepts it helps to work within 4 areas of life: Work, Family, Friends and the Self. Then it’s as simple as asking yourself the following:
- Have I achieved AND enjoyed something at work today?
- Have I achieved AND enjoyed something with my family/friends today?
- Have I achieved AND enjoyed something just for myself today?
The yes-associated with these questions comes down to being conscious of and appreciating the little things.
How our virtual PA’s will help you find the ‘balance’.
In the context of achievement or enjoyment, your work-life ‘balance’ comes down to managing the categories associated with these two concepts. When management of these concepts becomes difficult is when the work-life ‘balance’ becomes misconceptualised or unhealthy. Effectively managing these concepts is the key to a healthy work-life balance.
This is where we can help you to make sure the ‘yes’s’ associated with the above questions are frequent. Whether you are a small or large business owner we can help you manage the 4 areas of life essential to a healthy work-life balance by assisting you in the following ways:
- Social media
- Bookkeeping
- Research
- Database entries
- Managing email
- Travel arrangements
- Diary management
- Chasing business
- Presentation of data
- Social tasks
Read more on how you can outsources various tasks to our Virtual PA’s here or sign up for your free trial today.
