business
FINDING BALANCE IN UNBALANCED TIMES by Shannon Adams
Like many of you, I began working as soon as I could. You know, that exciting first job as we enter the workforce at 14 or even before that if we cut the neighborhood grass or babysit for our parents’ friends. Remember those jobs…those days? The ones where we magically managed to balance out school, homework, friends, sports teams and a part time job? Maybe we could find the balance because it was only part time? Now as we are older and wiser with only perhaps one full time job, we find it increasingly difficult to strike that balance. When did it all change?
when we forgot a menial task or perhaps do not want to do something. It’s the reason we all strive to find that magical work-life balance. Well let me let you in on a secret, there is no such thing as work-life balance. You may be thinking No! I have it! That’s great! Chances are that you have days though where life is a little more weighted than work and vice versa? There Is nothing wrong with that. We need to be able to accept where we are on our journey for equilibrium and move forward without striving for the perfect 9-5, 5-9 balance from outdated advertisements.
For me it changed when I got my first real job, the one where there was a dress code and punch cards to be monitored, the standard 9-5. My desire to be good at my job, to impress, to get noticed and get that promotion, the need to make more and more money. Before I knew it, I was caught up in an 84-hour workweek when I only ever signed up for 40! How did I become disillusioned to the reality of life passing by? Since when did being busy become a badge of honor worn with pride – like a shiny gold star for doing a good job?
Here are the three steps you need to take to achieve that balance for yourself.
Being ‘busy’ becomes our default answer when someone asks us how we are, it’s the fallback excuse
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Do everything with 1. Intention 2. Prioritization 3. Boundaries By everything, I mean EVERYTHING, even something as simple as folding laundry or listening to your office voicemail. Tasks go by faster and are more enjoyable (as much as they can be) when we focus on them.
