Finding Balance in Life is Work

Now, here's a topic that affects only the privileged - work-life balance.  Think about it, it is an issue only for those who have the luxury of choice on how much they work or don't.  I'd written about this a while ago (yes, this topic is also frequent fodder for bloggers, writers and researchers) in what I thought was a cleverly titled post 'The work of life' in which I mused about our cave-dwelling forebears whose view of 'life' was more about avoidance of death than finding time for a family dinner.  Fast forwarding about fifty thousand years, today, for most people the world over, a work-day and its duties are clearly defined with little or no flexibility in it (as at Foxconn).

I'm writing about this again as I read a recent HBR post 'Entrepreneurs don't need work-life balance' which made me conclude that we're going about this the wrong way.  Previously I'd written about how to manage being a committed entrepreneur who wishes to meet all personal responsibilities, not just the ones in his/her company.  Now I'd like to step back from minor coping tactics, however useful they may be, to take the long view, a more philosophical one - and not just for entrepreneurs, but any of us who is lucky enough to be able to even to have the option to adjust our work schedules.

Mahatma Gandhi is credited with the quote 'Happiness is when what you think and what you say and what you do are in harmony'.  Less poetically, I believe it is when you are in harmony, or in balance - balance being something you experience, not achieve.  Equanimity is an even better word for it.  And equanimity comes when there's no guilt or stress or regrets - all those unbalancing feelings that come with thinking you should be doing one thing while you're saying/doing another.  As in having promised to be home for dinner but going to a mixer your investor invited you to in the last minute, or going on a long-planned ski weekend with a best friend and fretting about not being onsite for a product release.  These get to be stressful because you're thinking you're doing something for others (and failing in it), when in fact all the choices you make are for yourself.  You enjoy your work, you enjoy family and friends, you want to be physically and emotionally fit and you want it all - without conflict. 

Can it be done?  You bet.  But it takes work to get you and your life in balance.  Plan your life blocking out as much time as you think you'd like/need for all components that are important to you (for sure, if you're an entrepreneur, work's going to take a mega-chunk of it).  When conflicts arise, bring your values to the fore when making your choice.  Again, it should be yours, not anyone else's - after all, you're one of the privileged few that can afford that.  Also add a dash of pragmatism - be where your presence makes the most difference.  If you feel balanced with the result, you know you've made the right choice.  And one more tip, once you've made the choice, forget about the alternative - that way lies the wobbly woe of unbalance.