What is work life balance? How do you define it? Whether you have work life balance and whether you view clear boundaries between the two depends on how much you love your job. Here are some rare points of view to consider.
Remote work has made it easier to blend home life and work life into one room (or the same building). Employers and clients may have the expectation that you’ll respond to messages or complete work tasks between 9 a.m. to … well, 9 a.m. the next morning.
Ambitious people and work culture may set up the expectation that you’ll answer work messages and do a small work task while you’re on vacation. Emails and various apps on smartphones have made it easier than ever to blur the lines between the office and personal time.
The constant plug-in to workplace communication and work tasks can be exhausting. People need a break from work to recharge and return to their tasks with fresh eyes. But is it bad to blend work and home life together?
Some people love their career enough that working is as enjoyable as watching Netflix or playing video games. I’ve met some of these people (so they do exist).
If you enjoy your work as much as you’d enjoy a hobby, then is working extra hours synonymous with workaholicism or overachieving? Does it make a difference whether you’re designing a graphic for a client or painting a picture to hang on your wall?
Some self-employed people live in their business. They are always reading or watching videos for self improvement, or brainstorming new ways to increase their income or expand their products and services. Would this be considered overworking? It depends.
Everyone should be learning new things, whether it is a new hobby, new skill, or general-interest knowledge. People challenge themselves with fitness goals, reading goals, or social goals. How is investing more time in your career or business any different, if you love what you do, and if you still have time for friends and family?
If you enjoy what you do, then perhaps a job or business is no different than investing time and energy in a hobby or pastime. With this perspective, would work life balance be… “balanced”?
What are your thoughts on work life balance if you have a job or career that you love?
Vanya Wryter Consulting Services 
Yes, I did mean to say as well, that I certainly know people who do not see their work as work and therefore live and breathe it. In fact, I was seen by others to be in this category. That was not the case for me. I just saw it as being professional.
At a workshop I conducted a number of years ago regarding customer service, one of the participants shared they had not realised that by sending emails to their team after “office” hours, it was stressing out the whole team. So, although the team leader felt better getting on top of their emails, the rest of the team was feeling miserable. Needless to say, the team leader took on the team’s comments and the after hours emails stopped – matters did get back on track. I thought this was an important lesson regarding working out with your team the best way to communicate with it.
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I think sending after office emails are fine, especially in this age when we work with people from different time zones. The important thing is for the sender to respect the boundaries of the recipient and not expect a reply until the recipient is back at the office.
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Work Life Balance is an important subject. When this concept was first emerging, I was negotiating with a staff consultative committee and the unions how this could be included in employee work agreements/contracts going forward. As I was representing the employer (a large local government at the time), staff were over the moon that their well being was taken into account.
In terms of myself, yes, when I was younger, I wasn’t particularly good with work life balance. I worked way too much and my time managment was second to none on top of that – so super productive. Now, with my own business, I am much better re WLB, and although I should spend time developing my business, I don’t because it is not my life, but I totlally understand those people whose business is their be all and end all.
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WLB seems more difficult for employees. I wanted to present a different viewpoint in the article. I know of business owners who love their work enough to not see it as work. One of them works late hours because he enjoys what he does. Another said she never needs a whole day off from work because she doesn’t see work as a burden. A third business owner takes lavish vacations, but when he works, he works long days and even on weekends but he enjoys it.
I think these people are in the minority, but there are people who see work the way people see hobbies. When you love what you do, then work is not about the pay check.
Thanks for reading this post and sharing your insights!
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