What are you juggling?

Work-Life Balance:
The achievement of equality between time spent working and one's personal life.

Source: Webster's New Millennium Dictionary of English

Not so many years ago everyone talked about how the development of increasingly sophisticated computers, emails and automated systems would release us from the daily grind of everyday life. However the reality for many of us is that it feels like the opposite has occurred and we are being pulled in all directions to achieve more with less.

Today in the UK one in six people work over 60 hours a week. Employing people to pick up your children, clean your home, walk your dogs or even sort your photo album is becoming the norm.

As a result our private lives are increasingly being commercialised and outsourced. Constant busyness has become a by-word for "good" when in fact it means we are removed increasingly from our homes, family and even community.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (www.cipd.co.uk) research showed that three out of four people say they are working very hard; many say they are working as hard as they can and could not imagine being able to work any harder.

The 24 hour, 7-day society where customers expect service at times to suit them is not likely to change. What can we do?! A re-examination of our beliefs, habits, attitudes and needs might help!

Beliefs

A belief is an intellectual or emotional acceptance of a proposition or doctrine. We all have beliefs about ourselves and we act according to these beliefs until we change them e.g. 'I need to work weekends otherwise I won't get the work done', 'I don't have enough time', 'this is the way it is'.

We build our beliefs by listening and accepting what others tell us. If you listen to many people you can believe for example that to be important and in demand you need to be busy and in the office. We all can choose what we believe and this can affect our judgements and performance.

What positive and negative beliefs do you have? How could you change those beliefs that don't support you?

Habits

Habits can be learned or stored through repetition and often become subconscious to the extent that thinking becomes unnecessary. Good habits mean that we can do things effortlessly. However there may be some not very good habits that are lurking and we may need to be able to change these easily and quickly. Think of someone you admire. What habits have made them successful?

Consider your own habits - the good and the bad. Make a quick list. Identify those that if you changed them might make quite a difference to your day e.g. negative habits might be always leaving the worst jobs to last, leaving completion of your tax return to 31 January, going to bed at 1 pm during the week and struggling to get through the next day.

What new habits could you adopt e.g. getting up one hour earlier for a run, watching less TV, going home on time two or more times per week?

Attitudes

Attitudes are neither good nor bad. If we have a positive attitude towards a goal then we automatically move towards it and seek to accomplish it. We become innovative and creative in finding ways to achieve it.

If we have a negative attitude we move away from a goal and we find ways of not achieving it.

Very often our attitudes and habits become predictors of our future. It becomes a self fulfilling prophecy - 'I know I will never be able to get everything done in the time available', 'I am always disorganised', and 'I never get enough support'. This may prevent you from developing alternative options.

Working harder and harder may be an indicator that you need to let go of some habits or attitudes that are stopping you making changes.

How does your attitude affect your day?

Needs

Needs are the emotional aspects that drive us as individuals. The driving force behind needs is based in our desire for wholeness. Needs often direct major life decisions until they are met. I expect we may not be aware of this at work but a lot of what drives us will be our unmet needs.

These kinds of needs go beyond our very basic requirements for food, water and shelter to those that we feel we must have. For example as a provider of services to clients we may have needs to be accepted, to be acknowledged, to achieve or to be recognised. In getting these met our behaviour might show up as going over the top to add value to clients, to over committing to speaking engagements, to striving for impossible perfection.

Do you know what needs drive you?

For more advice on making a difference in your working life, contact CareerInsights at info@careerinsights.co.uk
tel: 020 8841 5407 or 07958 636291

See our website at: www.careerinsights.co.uk