How do you usually go about your day?
Do you wake up in the morning, get ready for work, and then spend the whole day looking forward to being at home and unwinding?
We often hear about work life balance – having a good balance between work and personal time. Whilst this may sound like a smart idea, it can also imply that we should dedicate at least half of our time to work–and sacrifice time for our “personal life”.
To me, that seems… off balance. Because, the truth is, it’s nearly impossible to split your time equally between the two. And, you may end up stressing out if you’re not able to meet that expectation of balance.
Instead, why not think of having work life harmony instead?
With this mindset, you can actually integrate work into your life in a way that feels more complete. This way, you don’t need to view work and having personal time as separate.
So, how do you achieve work life harmony?
Work Life Harmony Explained
The difference between work life balance and work life harmony is pretty simple. With the former, there is an implication that you have to sacrifice your “life” for work. But, this is the worst way to go about things! How can you truly be at peace in life if you dread 8 hours of your day?
Work life harmony on the other hand, allows your work to be a part of your life. This means that you can choose to be happy both at home, and at work! Work no longer needs to be seen as the ‘bad’ or un-fun activity.
Having work life harmony also ensures you’re truly present in whatever place you find yourself.
Just take a look at Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon for example.
He uses a non traditional approach to work by making time for breakfast every morning with his family, doesn’t set his alarm before going to bed, schedules surprisingly few meetings, and still puts aside a few minutes every day to wash his own dishes.
He believes that all his staff should stop trying to achieve a ‘balance’ in their work and personal lives as that implies a trade off. Instead, he envisions a more holistic relationship between the two.
As the world’s richest man, he must be doing something right!
Case Study: A Hard-Working Nurse Whose Life Is Falling Apart
Ryan was a nurse who worked in the hospital. Although he found his work meaningful, he sometimes doubted about how much he could actually do to help the patients as a nurse because he found that many patients needed mental support more than the physical one. Having to work for long and irregular hours, he had his mental and physical energy all drained. Worse, he didn’t have the time and energy to spend with his girlfriend, and their 5-year-relationship was on the edge of separation.
He came to Lifehack to seek for inspiration and advice. He took our Life Assessment and got the following result:
Looking at the result, my team and I understood how rough time had to be for Ryan. Ryan also told me that he felt like his life was falling apart. It was like nothing in his life was going well.
