Why Work-Life Balance is not Good for You!

Yes, you read it right-Work-Life balance is not good for you! Contrary to popular belief, there are few reasons why it can make you counterproductive.

Most of us look for a good work-life balance in whatever job we do, it probably is one of the top expectations too!

It’s a popular belief that we need a good work-life balance to be productive at work and enjoy personal time. But still, the majority of us are overwhelmed by work and feel we don’t have a work-life balance. What’s surprising is even if we have one, we don’t feel happy or satisfied.

I believe that the major reason for this is — Compartmentalising both lives. Looking at them as two separate entities may not lead to satisfying work and personal life. You live two lives!

At many times there will be an overlap of the two, not wanting to mix them tend to result in a dilemma.

Sharing Resources

There will be certain qualities you’re good at work, like planning for a project, being punctual to meetings, being organised, making logical decisions, etc. And similarly, the qualities you’re good at personal life like listening to your loved ones, tolerating others’ mistakes, being patient, etc.

When you compartmentalise work and personal life, these qualities do not cross boundaries, i.e. work qualities stay at work and are not bought in into personal life, and vice versa.

Wouldn’t it be great to have all our good qualities cross boundaries? Will it not lead you to become a better performer at work and a better person in personal life?

When you scrape off this imaginary boundary and share your best resources, life becomes a single entity with two integral and inseparable parts — Leading to a better life.

Routine can kill creativity

When you draw a mental boundary between work and personal life, you create a routine on how your day should be.

For example, if you’re working hours are from 9 to 6, you wake up in the morning, get ready, have breakfast, go to the office, work till 6, come back home, spend some time with family, have dinner and go to sleep. This becomes a routine every day.

And here’s something I’ve observed — Routine kills creativity

To be creative, you need to expose yourselves to different experiences every day. When you’re caught up in routine, nothing interesting happens inside your head and no new ideas pop up — Only the same neurons fire again and again!

Being flexible with work and personal time helps us break the shackles of routine, provoking creativity. And since creativity is the most important skill that ever was and always will be, it’s essential to have it!

Having flexibility in work is a great way to make this happen, and a lot of companies are doing this by offering flexible timings — Putting an end to the age-old shift-based work culture (Which hasn’t changed much ever since the Industrial Revolution!).

So it’s ok to work late sometimes, it’s ok to talk to family and friends while at work, it’s ok to take a day off to read a book, it’s ok to work on Sundays. Because creative ones are those who mix things up!

It’s the responsibility of both employees and employers to bring this culture into action. Another reason for flexibility being important is, the future is uncertain! Flexibility is one of the best tools we can have, to deal with uncertainty. But this doesn’t mean you’ll have to forget about routine, of course, you need it — but too much routine is bad.

Dave Schools in his course Writing Revenue, says that creativity lies somewhere between comfort/routine and stress/chaos. So it’s essential for you to follow a routine and also to be a little chaotic — to kindle creativity!

Takeaways

• Looking at work and personal life as two separate entities may not lead to a satisfying personal & work life, because the best qualities in one may not benefit the other.
• Scrapping off this imaginary boundary between these two lives creates synergy and will mutually benefit both.
• Being flexible at work and in personal life can help us in being creative!
• The future is uncertain, so the best tools we can have to deal with it are Flexibility & Creativity!

Originally published at http://arunsuresh3141.wordpress.com on December 22, 2019.