CEO CHAT : Does Work-Life Balance?

CAN WE ACHIEVE WORK-LIFE BALANCE?

Hey Shesh, thank you for the amazing career advice that you are giving through your CEO Chronicles articles. I have one question my colleagues and I discuss often – can we ever achieve work-life balance?

NEVER!

Thank you, Nidhi, for your kind feedback.

The phrase, ‘work-life balance’ is badly coined. This phrase implies that work is something we are forced to do, so that we may earn the resources to have a happy life outside of work.

This is wrong. Work is an integral and important part of life. Incorrect phrases like these condition us to see work as a burden rather than as a path to self-worth. We see it as an obligation rather than an opportunity. Such phrases also cause us to ignore all non-employed workers – mothers, spouses, caregivers, and somehow rank these vocations as less.

This leads us to certain behaviours – to resent the time and effort that work consumes; to feel that work prevents us from leading notionally wonderful lives; to treat non-employed people differently.

I prefer the term, ‘work-leisure balance’.

Work-leisure balance is absolutely critical for our mental, emotional and physical well-being. We need to balance the hours we spend at work with the hours we spend with our family, or reading, or hiking or chilling. We need to nourish all parts of our spirit, and explore the full range of joys the world has to offer.

And, yes, we CAN achieve work-leisure balance. Watch this space!

(May I suggest this brilliant blog?)

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