BALANCE WORK AND LIFE TO STAY HAPPY AND SUCCESSFUL
This is an Article i completly copied from THE HINDU just bcoz i feel it will be useful for all of us. Actually credit goes to NITYA SAI SOUMYA, who originally written this article...........
Every individual, at some point in his career experiences an imbalance between his professional and personal lifes. in most cases, work yanks away the time meant for your loved ones. if you allow this to continue, the quality of your life deteriorates. the feeling of guilt slowly transforms your general temperament; your approach to life changes and that reflects on your work and success.
Maintaining work-life balance is necessary because imbalance wreaks chaos in life. increased pressure on one side will affect the other side too.
After all, the two cannot be completely disconnected! so the moment you notice that you are not able to balance between them, you have to take corrective measures. the first step towards this is finding the cause for the imbalance.
Some of the potential causes are - you are genuinely overloaded with work, you are incompetent, your time management skills are poor or you chase conflicting goals.
Once you identify the problem, you should admit it and work towards overcoming it.
All this will take some time. however while focusing on dealing with the specific cause, which can help you reduce the time to get back on track and prevent trying situations from getting worse.
They are :
Follow an action plan :
When you are better organised, your efficiency increases. so when you are assigned new or additional tasks, revisit your daily schedule and action plan. make a list of activities and prioritise them. this should be done on daily, weekly and monthly basis.
Plan in advance how you will deal with impending additional responsibilities like a business get-together or a parent-teacher meeting. if you have to spend extra time at the office, inform your family about it and seek their support. if you have to take leave, inform your boss. assure him that you would complete the work on time.
Show your care :
When your organisation is going through a change, there is a crisis or you are vying for a promotion, it can be inevitable to spend more time at work. so explore alternative ways to show your loved ones that you care. simple gestures like asking them how they spent the day, calling once during the day, helping them with their activities (when you are at home), and buying presents can do the magic. the point here is to assure your family and friends that you will not 'forget' or 'ignore', though you are busy.
Leave work at office :
When you are with your family and friends, make the most of the time. do not think about work at least during the 'special' time you allotted for them. similarly, do not carry you personal problems to work. avoid being away from office for long time and spending working hours on personal phone calls.
Negotiate with employer :
When excess work is disrupting your personal life, negotiate with your employer s on options like work from home and flexible time. make sure that the arrangement of working late everyday and on weekends does not continue for a long time.
Take care :
Pay attention to your health. sleep well. spend time on activities that can help beat fatigue. allot time for physical exercises, yoga or sports. when you are already overworked, this idea may seem ridiculous. but, it actually helps you stay healthy, happy and positive in stressful periods.
There is no standard rules for achieving work-life balance. more than achieving it, maintaining it is difficult. so be conscious about your state of mind and time you are spending on each aspect of your life. if there is deviation explore ways to deal with it.
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