On achieving work and life balance
On Sunday night, I went for a quick dinner and a movie with JT and as we were driving towards the restaurant, he asked me how was my week. I described all the things I did for my field research, client work, consulting, teaching and event planning. I am pretty sure he wasn’t surprised at how busy I was (we’ve hung out for the better part of a decade), but the thing that struck me was that he asked me “are you sure you’re achieving the right work/life balance?”. Admittedly, his question took me by surprise.
I am the kind of person who prides himself in working hard, playing hard. I do a lot of socializing even within the work I do. My life is incredibly filled with fun, interesting research, teaching and consulting projects. But more importantly, while I will admit that I am a bit of a workaholic, I really enjoy the work I do, and I have no problem putting in long hours. Let me give you an example – on Thursday night, after I had already helped with the organization and execution of an event, I stayed late to help a friend and colleague from The Network Hub community with his project.
We sat around the boardroom table and spent an hour working around the ideas that he had, along with a number of other entrepreneurs. At the end of it, we all took the kind offer of one of our colleagues who drove us all home. As we were making our way to the parking lot, it struck me really hard: when I work hard in what I love doing, I feel incredibly alive. I love consulting, I love teaching, I love research.
I am able to do all of that and maintain a social life. And I’m really enjoying it. All of it. I guess that is why I feel I have a work/life balance.
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you hit the nail on the head – you’re happy – that’s what creates the balance.
You’ve hit the nail on the head, Raul. I wrote a post related to this topic a few months back at wordspring.ca called “Striving for Balance? Why Not Try Harmony Instead?” Harmony can be full-on and still leave you at with more energy at the end of the day than when you started. And it’s beautiful, too!
Phew! You are definitely a busy person.
But you are right… everyone has their own definition of work-life balance and what makes them happy. Like Michelle said, what matters is that you are happy.
I try to find my peace somewhere with snowboard and surfing outside of work… but sometimes even that feels like “busyness”… when that happens, I just have to take a step back and just spend a night on the couch to relax or do some yoga. Sometimes we even need a break from having fun! Haha