Personal and Professional Life - How to Choose

As the world gets competitive and the career race heats up, you find yourself spending more time at work than at home and miss doing stuff that you really love doing. As work life balance gets lop sided relationships suffer. Also, many times we end up doing jobs which we are not passionate about and are stuck in a vicious circle.

The Challenge

• When was the last time you played a sport you really love?
• Have your colleagues become your family because you spend the maximum time with them?
• Are phone calls and emails taking away your ‘me’ time?
• Is your health at risk as you don’t get time to exercise?
• Do you feel you are stuck and want to come out?

We all feel whatever is written above is true, but believe there is no way to keep personal and professional lives at an ideal equilibrium. You can either earn lot of money or earn mental peace & solid relationships. What we tend to miss is the fact that not only you as an individual suffer but the corporate which employs you also does. How?

• Over a period employee productivity falls
• Relationships at the office suffer as frustration starts to creep in
• High stress level leads to low morale and high attrition

The reverse situation is also true, which means if there are matters at home independent of work that impact you negatively, the repercussions affect you at your work place. So the big question is how to strike the balance.

The Solution

Let us first understand what is the meaning of work life balance. It is not about completing your office job in specific time and then going home to finish your home tasks (home time). It is about- being in a mental state where you work passionately in your professional life and are at mental peace, and enjoy your personal life.

Experts would say, when you are at work don’t think about home and when you are at home switch off your mobile. Don’t look at mails and don’t think about work. But is this really possible? Probably yes if you live two different lives one at office & one at work.

As a coach we believe that our client is an integrated self. Keeping this in mind the focus of the coaching sessions is to identify

• What are the benefits of a good professional & personal life and make the client realize that benefits accrued from both are the same and one is not more important than the other. This allows the client to take simple steps which helps him strike the balance.
• What skills and resources one can use from his professional life to benefit his personal life and vice versa. E.g. how the quality of hard work which the client demonstrates in his profession can benefit his personal life.

Post the session clients are able to come with action points as to how by taking small decisions and steps they can achieve greater work life balance.

Benefits

• You become an integrated wholesome individual who enjoys life rather than living two separate lives
• You are able to answer difficult questions including “What will you gain” and “what will you lose”. This helps you achieve mental peace
• You start identifying concrete steps that will help you achieve work life balance
• Difficult situations at work and at home stop negatively affecting you
• You are passionate about what you do, and believe whether you are at work or at home it is your ‘own time’ which brings in greater success.