Think On Work-life Balance

By Author: kaushik bhattacharyya
Total Articles: 2
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Why is this so? Why are so many American workers determined to spend less of their working day at work?
Some feel that this is an answer to their employer for having to work too much. This is how they seem to balance between their work and personal life.
Others, however, think that they need to create a balance between what is missing from their work and get appropriately engaging. It is a lack of sense of purpose in what they do that drives them to optimise the work-life balance.
So that you do not feel pressurised by the employer or lack a sense of purpose, choose a job where you have to do what you like to do best. If you engage yourself with your ‘natural’ skills, the inherent capabilities and special skills that we possess, it is more likely that you will not seek for a balance externally.
For the first group, work-life balance is a benefit that employers provide at their option. It is controlled by employers and subject to fluctuations in their fortunes. This kind of balance is important to have, to be sure, but in the 21st Century workplace, it is fast becoming an anomaly.
When times ...
... are good, the benefit is hard to get because employers eventually want to pull every penny of profit possible out of the strong market.
When times are bad, the benefit is hard to get because employers are actively cutting costs to preserve every penny of profit possible in the weak market. The net effect is that employers talk incessantly about work-life balance-they even promise to provide it-but more often than not, the words aren’t balanced with action.
For the second group, in contrast, work-life balance is self-created. It is controlled by the individual and is largely unaffected by the fortunes of any employer. The individual seeks and accepts only those jobs where they can be their personal best. They transform their work from a negative to a positive experience by structuring their employment so that it has enduring value for them. In essence, they achieve balance by assigning their interests in the workplace as much priority as those of their employers. They do that by focusing their career on the progressive development and expression of their Natural.
Unfortunately, many maybe even most of us don’t even know what our Natural is.

That’s why there has been so much focus, in recent years, on willingly helping people achieve a “work-life balance.” The term implies that work is a negative activity that has no personal value other than a paycheck which is almost always less than what we want or need. We must balance our day-to-day experience in the workplace with activities that occur someplace else and do have enduring value. Furthermore, sadly, surveys after survey confirms that balance is exactly what a growing number of Americans are struggling to achieve in their lives.
Striking a balance by knowing and pursuing our natural abilities is much more resilient and far healthier for us. We are able to do what’s best for us, at work as well as in the rest of our lives. We get rid of the daily grind and, instead, commit ourselves to the daily greatness we are all capable of achieving. And, now, more than ever before, it is possible to create such an individually inspired work-life balance.
The key to achieving a work-life balance that you control is being the best you can be at what you most like to do and do best. In essence, you must make a personal commitment to working at developing and expressing your natural talent-to performing at the top of your game every single day on-the-job. If you do that, you’ll not only find employment that fulfills and rewards you, but you’ll have your choice of employers that will balance their expectations with what’s best for you. That puts life in your work as well as work in your life. You can turn a task into a game!

Kaushik Bhattacharyya is a consultant and has been writing blogs on USA Jobs, career related topics and Job Search topics.