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Image: jupiterimages.comFirst of all, a very warm welcome to all you lovely people who have recently subscribed to my blog updates. It’s been some time since I’ve posted new stuff. I’m sure you didn’t like that, and well, I didn’t like it myself either!
Alright, straight to the point! There were two main reasons that had kept me away:
1) A skewed work life balance.
2) Loss of health (no, not due to work stress).
The second of the two reasons was a byproduct (though it wasn’t a direct one) of the first. I’ll dedicate today’s post to discuss a few of the important factors with regard to a skewed work life balance, which was the first of the two reasons that stole away a significant amount of my time over the last few weeks.
I’ve been through this before! I’ve also analyzed this situation, innumerable times over the years, and have expressed it more than once in my earlier posts with the hope of helping myself (besides my readers of course) through my own posts.
Based on my most recent experience, I’m inclined to write about three difficult factors that put work and life out of balance when depending on a job for a living.
1) Fear of losing one’s job
2) Perfectionism
3) Moral responsibility towards the “team”
I’ll consider each of these reasons briefly, share my experiences in dealing with them, and look forward to hearing your experiences too.
1) Fear of losing one’s job
This is probably one of the most widely spread reasons, and the seed of all possible evil in the corporate world.
I’m certainly glad that I have achieved a considerable amount of freedom from this one.
Now there are quite a number of ways in which you can do away with this first reason behind a skewed work life balance. My favorites are the following two.
A) Have multiple sources of income
It’s about not depending on your job as the only source of income for a living. If you have multiple sources of income, then there is no grave reason for fearing the loss of your job.
This, I know, is what is going to give me complete freedom from job slavery. It’s on my top priority list, and I recommend this to all of my friends. I know it does take time to get there, but I am moving towards this slowly and steadily. I suggest that you too embrace it, as the freedom potential that this holds is tremendous.
B) Don’t care a damn, anyways!
Now, not caring a damn about losing one’s job may look like a stupid way of getting rid of the fear of losing it. But I’m proud to say that I’ve accomplished it myself. All it needs is a brave heart, a small backup plan, and a change of perspective. I still give my best to my job, but there is no fear of losing it. In fact, doing so opens up your mind, from a closed career focus, to a whole new perspective of life.
As of this writing, I can say I have no definite source of income other than my job (that is, leaving aside my tiny bit of investments). However, I do have a fair amount of savings for a rainy day, and I can cover myself and my family for a few months in case I do have to look for another job amidst the next economic crash or otherwise.
Seriously, there is much more to life than to spend most of it on a job, that too with the fear of losing it anytime, especially in a global economy that, as we have seen, is becoming more and more unstable and uncertain by the day. Think about that for a moment!
2) Perfectionism
I’ve read loads of stuff on how to get rid of this one… so many techniques, so many principles… I’ve discussed some of them in my earlier posts, and I’ll discuss more in upcoming ones. But for now, I’d just like to state that it’s all easier said than done!
There’s really something inside of me that just won’t let me control this one as much as I would like to. I have tried a lot (or, have I really?) to deal with this one, but to very little effect. For me, this is not as much about not knowing how to do away with it, as it is about the attitude and not being able to put my foot down and say, “Well that’s it for now! And if there’s something that isn’t perfect about it, I’ll address it some other time.” Yes, it looks that simple, but somehow, more often than not, I just can’t do it.
This has been a tough one for me in setting a good balance between work and life, and I guess I’ll always have to keep trying to make its grip on me lesser and lesser. If you’ve not been in the same situation as I am, then that’s great for you! But if you’ve been there, and have come out of it even though you thought you never would, then by all means I would like to hear from you.
3) Moral responsibility towards the “team”
The killer! Well, what can I say about this one? I no longer fear losing my job, and I am even able to overcome perfectionism sometimes, but this one takes the prize for screwing up the imbalance tight, literally!
You see, the corporate world has come a long way, and it has articulated such a matrix (yes, it’s just fine to think about the movie) that there’s always something or the other that extends out to grab you by the collar and pull you back into the maze.
“Teamwork”! Everyone is dependent on someone or the other, and someone or the other is dependent on you. Targets/deadlines will always be such that someone that is dependent on you needs help – be it your peers, your subordinates, or even your manager(s). You might have overcome the fear of losing your job, and you may not be a perfectionist. But what can you do if you are not a hard hearted soul who can just dump someone in the middle (or the beginning or end – the timing just doesn’t matter) of a project or task? Stay back and help, right? And there goes the balance for a toss!
This post has turned out to be a little longer than intended, so I’ll wind up here and call it your turn now.
Your experiences please
Well, that’s been my side of the story, and now I’d like to hear from you. So please leave a comment and share your experiences in dealing with the above three factors while striving to strike a good work life balance. Just bring it on!
Hey Mark, I actually did read your post following your previous visit to The Blog Doctor is In but I didn’t leave a comment. Perhaps it was a dual attack of procrastination and perfectionism?
I like the way you discuss these common problems by keeping things simple and sincere.
That perfectionism thing used to plague me. It used to be from the fear of getting something wrong and being told off. Then it became more about not being good enough or not as good as others.
There are many people (and I used to be one of them) who pride themselves in being perfectionists. I came to realize that the motivation for me in doing this was that I believed that setting myself an impossible standard would impress others. You know, make them think how high my standards were and if they were, then surely my work must be good. Sad, huh?
I’d be ashamed to admit to being a perfectionist these days. It seems so shallow
.
Instead, I’m happy to accept that there will always be material/work better than mine and material/work not as good as mine. What’s more important for me these days is feeling that I’ve done my best and knowing that no matter how awful the result may turn out, I’ve done my best by virtue of the fact that I always set out to do my best.
Hi TBT,
That’s very well said! Thanks for sharing your experience.
These are the days of information overload, and perfectionism is old school already. Even I used to take pride in perfectionism earlier, but now it has become a major area of concern.
Of course, things are different for cases when good enough is not good enough.
Like you expressed at the beginning of your comment, it’s true that perfectionism goes hand in hand with procrastination. We’d be much better to aim for excellence instead. But, well, for habitual perfectionists, that’s easier said than done, isn’t it?
Besides, trying to get one thing done perfectly takes away so much time that we could have spent on other opportunities. And yet, the habit dies hard!
What should I say,… just lack of discipline? Well,… not quite! It’s much more complex than that, isn’t it?
Lack of discipline? Yep, you’re wise to acknowledge that it’s a complex thing. What is discipline really?
You know, I just had a flash of insight (or perhaps a spark of foolishness???). I think discipline has qualities of:
Faith
Vision
Purpose
Currency/relevance
I think if any of those things are lacking, then discipline is lacking. So, rather than seeing our lack of discipline as a failure or weakness, it’s probably more to do with how much faith, vision, purpose and relevance we have and see in the task at hand.
Perhaps you’ll write about discipline in your next post?
Hey TBT,
That was insightful! All the 4 factors you mentioned are so very important and linked to success.
However, in my personal opinion, I think that these factors do not join in to form Discipline. Now don’t get me wrong there! I do respect your opinion, and I’m sure you would have a thought process behind that insight. It’s just that we need to agree to disagree on this one due to difference of opinions.
If you’d ask me what one factor relates to Discipline the most, I would say it is Action. I’m saying this because I do have Faith, Vision, Purpose and Relevance associated with many of my plans/ideas, but unless I Act on them, things just don’t work out.
So I would say, discipline is doing what needs to be done when it needs to be done, especially if and when it was planned to be done.
What do you think about that?
Cheers!
Mark
[...] ahead of the demands of the situation at work, and leave on time. Today I managed to overcome the Three Difficult Factors and strike the work life balance [...]