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| Photo:https://www.wholelifechallenge.com |
I believe that there are a number of simple actions that I have taken to balance the time and effort I spend on work and at home.
First, I
am going to call it Personal-Professional life balance and not work-life
balance as it is normally called.
Why?
- The semantics. "Work-Life Balance" implies that work is not life and life is not work. The term creates a conflict where there should be none. For me, work is life & life is work. What I want is to be able to balance my personal and professional lives.
- At any given point of time, both cannot be in balance. Sometimes my personal life will need to take center stage - all my mind share, time, effort, focus, money; and sometimes my professional life will take center stage. That's just the way it is. I just Accept it and get on with it!
So How Do I Balance My Personal & Professional Lives?
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Mumbai Dubbawallas Photo: The Hindu |
Ensure quality work is delivered on time, every time
It builds
credibility. Credibility I learnt, is far more important than the time I get to work or leave work. People at work and home have come to depend on my
delivering on promises. Delivering quality can happen anywhere - at work, sitting on the floor outside an ICCU, at a vacation hotspot. For a couple of years our team delivered and billed 15 days in advance so that our entire business unit could close down over Christmas and New Year! We loved it!!
Communicate
Availability
I
let people know in advance if I am not going to be available - whether it is 3
days attending a Strategy Meeting or half-a-day for a doctor's visit. This
helps us all plan for completion and/or approvals well in advance of my
"unavailable" time. My teams also know that I do not want to be
disturbed during this time and that they will get delayed responses. If we
are in the middle of a super critical project, I plan a check-in time and
number.
Communicate
Response Times
I let
people know when they can expect a response from me. And I stick to maintaining
these response times! From letting my household staff know exactly when they
will get the advance pay they asked for, to a 24-hour response time on emails. Communicating
expected response time cuts down on useless reminder calls / emails and
prevents people from calling me to check whether I have received and read an
email or report and what my response is.
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| My Outlook calendar can look like this on any given Monday! |
Put
everything on one calendar
Calendars
are great tools. They help us plan and schedule work in offices. I use my
calendar to schedule personal work too - from dinner with friends to payment
due dates of bills to shopping expeditions and vacations. Not only does it let
me see all that I have committed to do, but also helps me allocate time
judiciously. I share my calendar with my teams so that they are aware of time
that I have blocked off, and they respect and appreciate it.
Plan and
communicate me-time
Both
at work or at home, I plan and announce to people that I am spending time on
thinking, or research, or whatever it is that I need time for. I plan for time
to read, or write or catch up on sleep. And everyone is told that this is my
time and not to disturb me. I have an unwritten rule, that gives me 30 mins alone time after I get home from work. I use this time to take a
shower or read or watch TV. At office I block-off several hours a week
to read or do research.
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| Phone covers are very useful |
I often work with my phone on silent or face down / cover shut, so that I am not disturbed by calls or flashing alerts. I have a different ringtone for
calls from immediate family - set to ring even when on silent. At off-times, my teams
(including supervisors) know that they can call me in a certain window iff
"the building is burning down". I avoid looking at my phone when out
meeting friends or shopping or watching a movie. I don't answer every call I
get if I am already engaged with someone or something.
Return calls / messages
when convenient to you
As I don't
pick up my phone every time it rings, or read messages immediately when I am
focusing on work (personal or professional), I make a point of reading /
responding to calls that I have missed 2-3 times in a day. People know this and
respect it.
Be
connected without being a slave to work or home
Technology
must work for me vs take over my life. I get the technology I need to connect
"at will". I use technology to listen to music whilst I work or clear
emails when a flight is delayed. I have ordered dinner for guests scheduled to
arrive at home at the same time as me - I was just coming from another city! I
shut down my computer when at home. And every time I reach for it, I ask
myself, "Do I really need to boot up my machine?". The
answer is often, "No."
Avoid working on weekends and off-time / bringing
work home
I define
work-free times (evenings, mornings, weekends). At these times, even if I am on
my laptop or using my phone, and I can see that there are many unread messages
on my official email or WhatsApp groups, I do not open them. It takes a lot of
will power! When I want to work at home, I ask the question "Does this really
need to be done now?" It’s the same question I ask if I want to do
personal work at the office.
Avoid
hanging around the office
I
don't hang around the office just because my boss is there or for a phone call
from an overseas customer. I leave when I have finished work. I take late night
& early morning calls from home. Customers have happily conferenced me into
calls when I have told then how late or early it will be with the time
difference. If I am hanging around the office after finishing for the day, it
is to connect with friends and chat.
Say
"No"
I
cannot do everything. I have to say "No" both at work and at home. I
have said "No" to new projects or to entertaining relatives on
weekdays. It's better to say "No" than to find that I am unable to
deliver. Why keep the door ajar for guilt to waltz in and stay for free?
Prepare
the night before or the weekend before
If I have a
very hectic week ahead, I do take a few hours off from my personal time to
prepare for a mad week or clear my emails so that I have no pending work to nag
me. It is well worth it. It helps me sleep well on Sunday night. The same works
for the day / night before a big presentation.
Stick to a
sleep, exercise, eat routine
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I have been asked if I can take a call at 5:30am in the
morning (from someone on the West Coast, USA) and I have said "No. I will
be out for a walk then. Can we make it an hour later?". I have said no to calls that clash with the time I spend with my father, or dinner time at home. I find that if we give people
alternate times to call / meet so that we can stick to our routine, they
understand and are willing to be flexible. We've just gotta ask!
Respect
others' personal time
If I want
people to respect my time - personal or professional time, then I need to
respect their time. I avoid calling colleagues, about work, on a weekend or
holiday. I also learnt the hard way, not to send emails on a weekend or holiday. I once
noticed that my program managers were responding to my emails on weekends. When
I asked them why, they told me that I sent emails on weekends and hence
they thought they were expected to respond. I was horrified that they logged in
on Sunday mornings just to respond to my emails! I soon learnt to keep emails
in my outbox or drafts folder, so that they could be sent out on a Monday morning.
Understand the company's policy on flex-work /
work-from-home / telecommuting
Many companies have
policies that allow for work flexibility. It’s worth spending time reading and
understanding these policies & their applicability. Telecommuting even a
day a week can add hours to the time you have to spend on personal work. Just
remember, the better a performer you are, the better the chances that you will
be able to avail of these policies.
Stop wanting perfection
Super-woman
/ superman are fictional characters. We are bombarded with ads and messages on
being "Super" whatever-the-gender! And that makes us believe that we
all need to be "Super". It is impossible to do everything right all
the time. I have missed movies and concerts and networking events. I have
pushed guilt away when I miss these. And that's OK!
Co-opt / commandeer help
I
don't believe that I have to do it all. And I am not going to be a martyr to
the cause of the do-it-all super-woman. So I try to co-opt people to help - spouse,
parent, paid help - basically whoever it takes to be able to give me more time
for myself. I also believe that co-opting children to do chores is a great
idea. My mom rostered our chores - cooking, washing clothes, laying and clearing the table, cleaning bathrooms, dusting, sweeping and swabbing, et al. She has even paid us to iron our own clothes. I think I am a better person because of it!
Nurture a
hobby
It does not matter what it is. It just has to be something you are passionate about. I have even had on-and-off hobbies (stitching and baking) and consistent hobbies (reading) over the years. A hobby for me is something that I do for myself and not others. Something that makes me forget the passage of time. I am now planning to sort thru the boxes and boxes of stamps I have - another possible hobby? :-) Whatever the hobby is, I believe that my time and effort spent on it is as important as anything else in my life.
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