Between life and work

The subject of work-life balance is a buzzword in today’s corporate lexicon. This is because issues of mental meltdown, burnouts consequent on stress and the attendant health challenges, are taking their toll on the corporate workforce. The greater the demand placed on an individual’s time at work, the higher the possibility of becoming a victim of any of these things. Far too many nervous wrecks get up and dress up to go to work every day. As a way of solving the problem, employees and corporate executives are made to undergo several programmes relating to finding that special place of balance between work and life. What most of these programmes do is to compartmentalise the individual’s life into segments or boxes and try to educate the person on how to proportionately allocate time, space and resources to each one in a way that one does not suffer for the others.

Consequently, one of the most popular training programmes that address the work-life balance challenge is time management skills. Any training consultant or corporate executive who wants to be honest will tell you that the results are hardly sustainable. It is like the sporadic resolutions that several people make at the start of a new year. They are hardly kept for up to one month!

As a consultant, I have always wondered why. I rehashed professional thoughts about time management for instance, for so long before it dawned on me as I studied the concept of time, that nobody can actually manage time! Time is a finite, defined scope of our lives. It neither decreases nor increases, so it cannot be managed. Management speaks to the ability to “govern” people or resources in a way that produces increase or decrease. You can neither increase nor decrease the 24 hours that constitute one day. In effect, no matter how fixated you are on time, you can only manage yourself and your activities in time!

Secondly, I discovered that attempting to find the intersection between life and work is to assume that work and life are two different, stand-alone entities. This mindset is where many people’s frustration comes from. You were created for productivity. Consequently, work is an integral part of the human DNA and finds expression when done with meaning. Anyone who has found and embraced the ‘why’ of his life will tell you that working in your vocation is almost like being on a vacation. Retiring from a job is not the same as retiring from work. Have you noticed that those who retire and do nothing thereafter tend to age and vegetate faster? Mental meltdown or drudgery can hardly be associated with anyone who has found his life calling in his work. The word “vocation” is rooted in the Latin word “vocare,” which means “to call.” The man who finds a calling in his work has found his “sweet spot.” He goes to work pumped up and ready to embrace the attendant challenges.

Frustration, anger, disappointment, lack of fulfilment all come from working on “just another job” where you cannot find the best of yourself manifesting in what you do. Corporate training on the subject emphasises six core areas of work-life balance. The first is our Function, which is the work that we do and for which we are remunerated. The second is our Family. This has to do with the time we create for our spouse and children. Third is the time we give to Friends, i.e, relationships, in and out of the workplace. Next is our Fitness, which addresses the time we give to personal health and wellness, as well as our personal development. The fifth has to do with the time allocated to developing our Financial wellbeing, including ensuring that we are adequately remunerated for what we do. The final consideration is Fun, which addresses the time we create for leisure, humour, vacations, etc.

Unfortunately, because it is not “woke” to talk about in corporate circles, the most vital aspect is usually left out and that is our FAITH. Our faith speaks of our deepest convictions. Whatever we claim to believe in is at the CORE of our perspectives, paradigms and postulations about our life essence. This in turn shapes our FUNCTION and affects all the other departments highlighted above. How we work, how we relate, how much we make or think we can make, how health-conscious we are, our investment in personal growth, what we do for leisure, all flow from our perspective and convictions about LIFE. Our values and convictions are rooted in our FAITH, even when we try to deny it. Your conduct always reflects your value system. Your value system reflects your belief system. QED!

Work, in its highest expression, is simply a platform to express WHO WE ARE, not what we do. It has little to do with salary, work environment, title and the many other things we think it is. An employer can spend millions of dollars on performance improvement training programmes and the recipients of that training can still perform abysmally thereafter. It is not rocket science, but the corporate world keeps missing the lesson while doing the same things they have always done (yeah, don’t remind me of the meaning of insanity)!

Performance only improves when people improve. We all bring WHO WE ARE to the office. Whatever you see an employee demonstrate on a job, that is who he is. If you think he is a misfit in that position, help him to find out where he is best suited in your organisation and simply deploy him accordingly and you will find that you hired a star performer! If you keep him in a role that does not express HIM, get ready for double frustration – you and him!

Our work is our life and our life is our work. Even if you have not found the job that you love yet, learn to love the job you have found and bring the best of you to it while you look out for what you really love, not for salary, recognition or any other thing (as important as those may be) but because it enables you to contribute value to the human enterprise. Why? Life is not an aspect of your work. Work is an aspect of your life. It is the opportunity that God gives you to express the best of your IDENTITY, PURPOSE, and POTENTIAL. Work, properly done, expresses POWER! Diligence is, therefore, enlightened self-interest! Your person may not reflect your work, but your work should definitely reflect your PERSON.

When you can make that perspective shift, you will discover that your attitude to work changes. Your work no longer defines you. You define your work as you define every other aspect of your life. Work-life balance takes on a different meaning.

Rather than living your life in frustrating compartments, simply live out your values. Every other thing will fall into place.

When you wake up to go to work tomorrow, do so with joy and a sense of power that makes you bring your ‘A’ game to the office.

Right there is the balance you seek – and need!

Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!

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