What Does Work/Life Balance Mean to You?

Think back to before the pandemic. How well did you create a difference between the time you spent at work, home, and for yourself?

Now, think about where you are now. Where would you say you are now with your time at work, home, and for yourself?

Before the pandemic, my days look a lot like they do now. With one huge exception—I used to travel 2-3 times per month. My work/life balance decisions have only changed in one way. Because I’m not traveling, I can spend much more time on my fitness routines. I am definitely eating better and working out more. (I can do that because I do not have children at home.)

Now that we have data about how well the vaccines work, we are able to make decisions about where and when we work. This means we need to renegotiate the balance of where we spend our time and attention: work, “life,” and ourselves.

Yes, I separated “life” and personal. That’s because I still have trouble separating what I do for my family and what I do for myself.

Work/life balance isn’t just one thing. It’s at least these things:

• How much time we spend at work, which includes getting to work and returning home.
• Not just the time we spend at home, but what we do with that time. If you have young children, you spend time quite differently than if you have older children. Or you may not have children, but you do have responsibilities to pets and older relatives. Home time reflects our many responsibilities.
• The time we spend on ourselves. I don’t count my workout time as “home” time. I can’t concentrate at “home” when I’m working out or reading.

Please do collect data on where you spend your time. Now, let’s go to our feelings.

How Do You Feel About Your Time Choices?

I’ve worked out daily for many years. I always “fit” that time in. However, especially when my children were young, I put the workouts last. After the children ate or got to school. (Which makes sense for very young children.)

When I traveled, I always marveled at how easy it was to “make time” for my workouts.

You might have caught that signal, but I missed it—that I prioritized myself differently at home. (If I was conducting this as a workshop, I would ask you to gather some data and spend a few minutes writing down how you currently prioritize yourself.) How could you tell if you prioritize yourself last? Especially at home?

Contrary to home, I prioritized myself first at work. For me, that meant focusing on serving my team(s), customers, and the purpose of the organization. I knew I couldn’t do it “all,” so I worked with my managers to decide what to do and not do. and I was happy with my choices.

At home, Mark and I split many of the chores. Which meant neither of us felt as if our home time trapped us.

However, small children require a lot of attention. I think both of us felt caught between the pull of work and family when our children were quite young.

As we come out of the pandemic, we can make new choices about our balance—where to spend our time. When we answer that question, we define our work/life balance.

What Does Work/Life Balance Mean to You?

I define work/life balance as a three-legged chair: work, home, and my health. You might choose to define it differently.

Now, how do you rank each of those things? Here’s my rank and why:

1. My physical and mental health. I need my workouts and to read “enough” to maintain my mental health.
2. My family. I do choose to spend time with and supporting my family. However, I can’t do that if I’m teetering on the edge of unhealth.
3. My work. I can work well when I’m healthy and when I know I support my family.

You don’t have to agree with my ranking. My choices are mine, and they’ve changed over time.

However, if we don’t decide what “work/life” balance means to each of us, we can’t choose.

We have only one life. Let’s live our lives to the best of our ability with great choices.

That’s why the question this week is: What does work/life balance mean to you?