Simple steps to balance work and life in a way that truly works for you.

Many, many articles have been written about work/life balance—I�€™ve added to the number myself. Few, however, tell you what that balance might be. It�€™s as if they all assume you know which blend of work and non-work time in your life is ideal, so all you need to do is translate that ideal into reality. But here�€™s a way to check your priorities and find out whether what you assume is the correct balance might be rather off the mark. Check it now—then adjust it from time to time to keep it working as it should.

Which is the right balance for you between time spent on work and work-related activities and the rest of your life. Do you know?

It�€™s easy to say that all play and no work would be best, but I don�€™t believe many people believe that. Lots of good things come from working, not least the opportunity to stretch your mind and hone your abilities, so that you can feel you are growing and developing.

Look at all the obscenely rich folk in the world today. Do they stop work and laze around on some private beach? In 99.99% of cases, they seem to go on working well after they�€™ve already amassed so much money they could never spend it in the rest of their lifetime. Why do they work? Because they enjoy it.

That�€™s true of most of us. Sure, work is a financial necessity. But can you put your hand on your heart and swear honestly that you never enjoy any of it? I don�€™t think so. If you never had to work again, and did nothing all day long save lounge around, my guess is that you would be screaming with boredom in less than a month.

Finding a balance

So what is the correct balance between enough time spent working to enjoy it and what it can offer; and enough time away from work to take full pleasure in everything else life may have to offer you? How do you find out?

Nina Grunfeld, writing in Britain�€™s Daily Telegraph, has produced a simple and elegant method for finding out what you really want from life and comparing that to the effort you�€™re expending. She calls it her �€œbalance chart.�€œ

A bit of a wake-up call to find out what you really want from life is to fill in what I call a �€œbalance chart�€�. This gives you an opportunity to think of all the aspects of your life (friends, rest and relaxation, love and romance, health and fitness, family, creativity etc) and whether you�€™re giving each aspect the time you want to. Write down all the aspects you can think of and then give each of them two percentages. Don�€™t give it too much thought — just a rough estimate. The first percentage is roughly the amount of time you spend on each aspect. The second is how much satisfaction you derive from each.

 
If you do this, make sure you�€™re as honest with yourself as you can be. My guess is that, if you do, you will find that the two percentages differ quite widely.

You next job is to look to ways which might allow you to get them closer into balance with one another. You will never get it absolutely right. Life is too uncertain, messy, and changeable for that. But you can probably do better than you have up to now.

So, don�€™t just talk about a better work/life balance—or assume that all that means is more time off, better facilities for part-time work, and greater flexibility to deal with family emergencies. Work/life balance isn�€™t about �€œthem.�€� It�€™s about you and the choices that you make.

Until you realize this fully and act on it, you�€™ll never find a way to enjoy work or life fully.

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