The Importance of Work-Life Balance

THE IMPORTANCE OF WORK-LIFE BALANCE
careerwise
Information Oct 22, 2017 0

Work-life balance. A term we are so familiar with and people are constantly discussing these days. Yet, do we really understand the meaning and importance of it? It is commonly define as the proportion of work compared to our lifestyle. Due the advancement of technology and the fast paced business era it is highly that we may often overlook on this matter. Nowadays emails are able to sync with our mobiles makes it more convenient for us to check on it 24/7 whenever and wherever. Social apps have also make it easy for clients, colleagues and bosses to contact us after working hours and even during vacation leaves or holidays especially nowadays where most have a group chat with colleagues and bosses. Hence, it makes it difficult for us to have a proper work-life balance due to the convenience of technology.

According to YouGov poll, it is said that the working group of late 20s to early 30s are most dissatisfied about their work-life balance. It really isn’t surprising as it is during this period when one is most energetic, innovative, ambitious, and have lesser commitments whilst being single where people strive and focus to climb the career ladder to achieve career success in order to have the comfort of life. Not forgetting the expectation placed on them by the company, parents and even peers may also contribute to the unhappy work life balance.

Despite the chase and importance of a successful career, let’s not forget that there are more to life than just work. Just before you decide to question, this doesn’t mean that focusing on career is wrong. However, creating the balance between work and life is crucial. Hey! It’s the period when you are young, energetic, lively and healthy. Shouldn’t we also place importance in social activities such as family gatherings, meet up with friends and meeting new people? Let’s face it, over indulging in work often leads one to anxiety and frustration when it comes to finding life partner. As you do not have sufficient time to meet someone new what more getting to know someone in depth and building a relationship.

Not only that, family time is often neglected in the process of pursuing career goal. We often forget that as we are growing, our parents are getting older too. We often get caught up in meetings and work where we left them with unanswered calls, no show in family events and rarely being home. We thought that providing our family with a comfortable life is important, however, most do not realize that to them, the time with us is most important. It’s often too late when we realize this. Same goes with friends. We may have lots of friends during our high school, college and university days. However, do you realize that your group of friends tend to get smaller once you step into the working world? We are all caught up with work that we do not have time for gathering or a casual meet up. We often postpone meet up due to work and overtime till one day our friends get tired of inviting. When we need someone to listen or share our ups and downs is when we realize what we have sacrificed along road of achieving career success.

Lastly, this is also the time when our body is in tip top performance and spending some time in the gym, yoga, zumba or just a jog will enhance our health and reduces stress from work. Let’s be frank. We often feel stressful at work especially if there is a sudden project or a task that is nearing deadline. Certain amount of stress may be good in producing an excellent performance on work tasks. However, too much stress may lead to various health complications. We may tend to get sick often which will jeopardize our work performance. Hence, take a pause from work and hit the gym may and will improve your work performance and creativity.

Thus, with all that’s said let’s that some time and ponder at ourselves. Are we having the correct work life balance? Is our work taking a toll on our personal lives, relationships and health? Are we truly happy with our current situation?

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