Everyone has stumbled upon at least one youtube video or article about Work-life Balance. It is a great concept which highlights the need to prioritise work and personal life, however, it might be time to replace Work-life Balance with Work-life harmony.
What is Work-life Harmony?
The keyword ‘Balance’ suggests that our time and efforts have to be equally invested in work and personal life. The visual image of a balanced object emphasises how things must be split equally while presenting no room for leniency. Yet, for most of us, this is unrealistic and conforming to this narrow definition of ‘balance’ may pressure us to strive towards an impractical goal.
This is where the concept of Work-life harmony comes into play. Here, “work” and “life” are interdependent and act together to produce something better. It emphasises that there is no right or wrong way with investing your efforts and time, as long as you are happy and satisfied. Hence, Work-life Harmony provides space to embrace what you feel and need at this moment and adjust your time and goals flexibly to produce the best outcome.
Benefits of Work-life Harmony
Improved Physical Health
When we have a better perception of how to manage our time, this allows us to make more realistic goals, hence, reducing daily stress. This is crucial as high levels of stress significantly impact the body which in turn, affects our daily lives as it can lead to chronic illnesses.
Improved Mental Health
Accepting that our time throughout the day is limited and prioritising what is most important reduces the need to achieve more and increases focus and productivity. This allows us to feel more in control of our lives, while not having to sacrifice time for activities and people who make us feel good.
Avoids Burn Out
Setting realistic expectations and goals, allows us to feel more satisfied with our performance. Additionally, as we are more conscience and in control of our time, we know how much we can take without having to sacrifice time for ourselves. Therefore, in the long run, Work-life Harmony prevents burn out which is crucial to our performance.
How to achieve Work-life Harmony?
Be present
Focus on what you can do and change at this moment. Don’t be too fixated on the past or future.
Learn to prioritise
Setting realistic goals allows you to prioritise what needs to be done. This allows you to evaluate how you are investing your time and if this is supporting your long-term goals.
Accept your limits
This comes with prioritising as we have to accept that we cannot get everything we want to be done. We must learn to try our best, accept the outcome and grow from it.
Invest in activities which bring you joy
Try to find passion or purpose in your daily activities. Even though it may not be something you are passionate about, try viewing it from a different perspective to see how this could add value to your life. Or, you may consider exploring more activities to find your passions. When we embrace and invest our focus into one activity, we often enter a state of ‘flow’ which improves our efficiency, motivation and creativity.
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