Like many, my life can be split in two a personal and a work life. In my personal life, I have many roles like “wife”, “sister”, “student”, and so forth. In my work life, I play the role of an “employee” and as a traditional office worker, I find that I spend, at minimum, a third of my weekdays on work matters. Due to the limited time in each day, I find it important to be able to achieve work-life balance which refers to our active engagement to dedicate equal time to attend to both personal and work matters. However, by setting these expectations, it can create unnecessary stress because it is not always possible to strike an equal balance or to keep both of these lives separate from each other. So, I’d like to introduce you to the work-life harmony approach so both of these facets of your live can co-exist without being in competition with each other which can help reduce the added stress and help us maintain our productivity at work.
What is Work-Life Harmony?
Instead of separating and trying to balance our personal and work lives, we can integrate our work life as a part of our personal life to create a harmony where each of these facets can complementary co-exist. This approach promotes overall well-being by addressing your needs as they arise rather than trying to divide your attention equally and unsuccessfully like with the work-life balance approach.
Practical Ways to Achieve Work-Life Harmony
- Identify Priorities: Evaluate what your personal values and priorities are for both work and personal life. This will help you determine what matters most to you so you can focus on what will give you the most satisfaction.
- Set Boundaries: By establishing boundaries between work and personal life, we can ensure that the time and energy we dedicate to work does not bleed into the time we need to give our personal life. It is important to set clear expectations with colleagues, managers, and family members so we can communicate and collaborate on shared responsibilities to manage workload. One strategy I like to do for this is to have designated work hours where I don't peak at my work email and turn off my work computer.
- Mange Time: Given that we only have a certain amount of time per day and work week, it’s important to have effective time management to prioritize whats important. One strategy that I like do for this is to create a schedule where I block off the time for work and then any personal commitments to ensure effective time managed.
- Be Flexible and Adaptable: Flexibility and adaptability helps us to adjust our schedule and takes to accommodate for unexpected challenges or circumstances. One strategy I use for this is to notify my supervisor that I need to flex my working hours a certain day or week to accommodate for personal commitments like medical appointments or family emergencies.
- Prioritize Self-Care and Well-being: Prioritizing self-care activities for physical, mental, and emotional well-being help us to disconnect from work during our personal time so we can be re-energized and prevent burnout. One strategy I use for this is to go for a walk after I close my laptop for the day. This helps me disconnect and clear my mind.
- Overcome Guilt and Perfectionism: When we’re able to overcome the guilt and the perfectionism on unrealistic expectations, we can reduce the anxiety created on getting it right the first time. We will make mistakes and it is fine to do so because we learn from our mistakes. By letting go of the guilt and perfectionism, we can eliminate the time wasted thinking about these so we can focus our efforts in what will make an impact in our work and personal lives.
Overall, the work-life harmony approach shows how we don’t have to sacrifice our productivity by integrating both our work and personal lives. By being intentional with our priorities, boundaries, and time, we can call our attention to what really brings us satisfaction. However, we still maintain a flexible and adaptable attitude when confronted with unexpected circumstances. All while taking breaks to prioritize self-care and well being and not give into guilt and perfectionism. Do you have any different approaches on how you like to approach your personal and work lives? Let me know in the comments.
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