Ditch Work Life Balance and Embrace Work Life Harmony

How do you usually go about your day?

Do you wake up in the morning, get ready for work, and then spend the whole day looking forward to being at home and unwinding?

We often hear about work life balance – having a good balance between work and personal time. Whilst this may sound like a smart idea, it can also imply that we should dedicate at least half of our time to work–and sacrifice time for our “personal life”.

To me, that seems… off balance. Because, the truth is, it’s nearly impossible to split your time equally between the two. And, you may end up stressing out if you’re not able to meet that expectation of balance.

Instead, why not think of having work life harmony instead?

With this mindset, you can actually integrate work into your life in a way that feels more complete. This way, you don’t need to view work and having personal time as separate.

So, how do you achieve work life harmony?

Work Life Harmony Explained

The difference between work life balance and work life harmony is pretty simple. With the former, there is an implication that you have to sacrifice your “life” for work. But, this is the worst way to go about things! How can you truly be at peace in life if you dread 8 hours of your day?

Work life harmony on the other hand, allows your work to be a part of your life. This means that you can choose to be happy both at home, and at work! Work no longer needs to be seen as the ‘bad’ or un-fun activity.

Having work life harmony also ensures you’re truly present in whatever place you find yourself.

Just take a look at Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon for example.

He uses a non traditional approach to work by making time for breakfast every morning with his family, doesn’t set his alarm before going to bed, schedules surprisingly few meetings, and still puts aside a few minutes every day to wash his own dishes.

He believes that all his staff should stop trying to achieve a ‘balance’ in their work and personal lives as that implies a trade off. Instead, he envisions a more holistic relationship between the two.

As the world’s richest man, he must be doing something right!

Case Study: A Hard-Working Nurse Whose Life Is Falling Apart

Ryan was a nurse who worked in the hospital. Although he found his work meaningful, he sometimes doubted about how much he could actually do to help the patients as a nurse because he found that many patients needed mental support more than the physical one. Having to work for long and irregular hours, he had his mental and physical energy all drained. Worse, he didn’t have the time and energy to spend with his girlfriend, and their 5-year-relationship was on the edge of separation.

He came to Lifehack to seek for inspiration and advice. He took our Life Assessment. Looking at the result, my team and I understood how rough time had to be for Ryan. Ryan also told me that he felt like his life was falling apart. It was like nothing in his life was going well.

I encouraged him to stay hopeful, and that my team and I would help him to get out of this rut and be happy again. Ryan wasn’t sure but still took a leap of faith and enrolled our Full Life Framework Course.

After the first few sessions of the course, Ryan was able to rediscover what he wanted for life most – he wanted to help people and being a nurse wasn’t the only way! He recalled how much he was into psychology and he wanted to give people mental support.

Then with the help of our coach, he started to figure out ways to achieve this new purpose of life. Two months later, he found a clinic where he could be a part-time nurse. So he quit his job in the hospital and signed up for a couseling certificate course.

Now Ryan is still studying for the couseling certificate. He isn’t less buy, but he feels more energetic because he finds what he doesn meaningful and is hopeful about his future.

What about his relationship? You may ask. After he quit his hospital job, he felt he had a clearer mind and decided to face his relationship problem. He mustered his courage to talk with his girlfriend openly about their relationship issues. He loves his girlfriend so he knows that together as a couple they must tackle all these relationship problems together, instead of letting the relationship gradually end. They talked things out and promised each other to make their relationship work together and would always support each other.

Do you see how being clear about what you truly want in life matters now?

If you want to know how balanced your life is, take our Life Assessment here for free now.

How To Achieve Work-Life Harmony

Rethink Time Management

Now, when we think of striking a balance, we usually associate it with time, don’t we? How much time are we spending at work versus how much time are we spending in our personal lives? Are we taking enough time to be with our loved ones, to do meaningful activities with others or even for ourselves, or are we just dedicating all our time to work?

This is the so-called-balance that many struggle with.

With work life harmony, we learn to rethink time management. By re-assessing how you manage your time, you’ll have a lot more of it. It’s incredible how much time can get wasted over the period of a day–especially when you’re not accurately tracking it.

Unfortunately, unless you’re consciously making an effort, your brain is not always the best at making accurate judgement calls when it comes to prioritizing. It tends to have a bias towards short term benefits and short term costs.

As there are often many more options our brains link to short term benefit; when you’re trying to focus on a task that gives you a long term benefit, that task usually becomes low priority. This is otherwise known as Priority Chaos.

In order to overcome this and be in better control of your time, identify the tasks that need the most focus to get accomplished. If it’s a big task, then it’s good to break it down into smaller bite-sized actions that will provide you with a clearer short term benefit.

When setting up tasks, give yourself a time limit. The brain has a bias towards short term benefits, and your attention span is limited, so if your tasks are going to take ages to complete, you’ll end up losing focus… and wasting time.

Once you have all your tasks written down, it’s time to prioritize them. Since you have a time limit, your focus should be on the top priority tasks. By doing this, you will already be able to get more done in less time at work!

Have Passion for What You Do

Managing your time is important in achieving that work life harmony. But, perhaps of greater importance, is loving what you do in life. One of the most effective ways to achieve a work life harmony is to really enjoy, or find a purpose, in what you do for a living. Even though everyone isn’t always lucky enough to find a position that pays them for pursuing their passion, you can strive to find meaning in what you are already doing, or pursue something new entirely!

For example, say you work at an office that sells paper. While many people wouldn’t consider this a world changing pursuit, I beg to differ. Think of all the individuals in the world that rely on paper. From creative types to quantum physics experts, your role at your workplace brings incredible value to many many people all over the world. You will have, without a doubt, helped bring a new idea into existence. Several new ideas to be precise.

So, think about what you’re doing now. Is it something that allows you to embrace your passion?

Or perhaps you might not even know what it is that you love or enjoy doing. Why not explore and reflect on what gives you joy and contentment? Is there an area or industry that you could see yourself exploring to experience that fulfillment?

Can you find a deeper purpose in what you’re already doing?

When you’re able to find meaning in your work, you’re that much closer to achieving work life harmony.

Don’t Be Intimidated By Obstacles and Limitations

Featured photo credit: Photo by Marten Bjork on Unsplash via unsplash.com