Or, less dramatically, call a project finished. Sometimes you just have to admit defeat and throw in the towel. Barriers to work-life balance include those factors which actively prevent you from creating and maintaining a more reasonable schedule. At least I can proudly say that I love my research, so my workaholic tendencies don’t kill me completely.ĭespite our best intentions, sometimes, our unhealthy work-life balance is brought on by a series of internal and external barriers. In most cases, an early academic career is plagued by deadlines, inane assignments, teaching too many courses (you don’t even like), and your personal research project. University and research are more than a full-time job. Even though you’ve specifically carved out YOU time, it becomes everything else time. Once you decide to take an hour to rest and relax for the sake of doing nothing, you start to worry about what other work/study-related things you could be doing. Even when you have free time, you don’t know what to do.How about letting them wait until official work hours? If your boss emails you at a ridiculous time, you jump to do whatever task they’ve set out for you. If your work and studies are so overwhelming that you cannot take some time to take care of yourself, you should reconsider your work-life relationship. You’ve abandoned self-care and exercise.By this, I am referring to your OFF time when emails should be the least of your worries. To make matters worse, you respond to them immediately. You check your emails more than social media.If you can’t remember when you last engaged in an activity that brings you pleasure, I have news for you: it’s time to plan some time out and reignite your passion for your interests. Think long and hard about what your hobbies are. Your well-being depends on nourishing meaningful relationships, too. If studying or work are common excuses for not meeting your friends, maybe you’re doing something wrong. Can some of these tasks be postponed? What would happen if you didn’t do them in the evening but simply left them for regular work hours? If you cannot carve specific times to relax because there is always something else to do, you need to re-evaluate your obligations and approach to them. Work is a part of life, but it shouldn’t be everything we do. What makes it worse is the constant stress and drama.īefore I get lost in the nostalgia of my delusional childhood dreams, let’s look at some concrete signs that you may have been subjected to an unhealthy approach to your work-life balance: Research, preparing tough courses, grading papers, and writing a thesis are only some aspects of it. I am reluctant to admit that my line of work is designed to give you extra homework. Be that course prep, grading papers, writing emails, or ‘just that one little thing’, work-life balance tends to be blurry in many cases. And by leaving, I mean not only leaving the workspace but also leaving any thoughts of work.Īs much as we would love to pretend that this ideal world exists, the chances are that most of us do bring our work home. In a perfect world, it would mean coming to work and ‘doing your time’ before leaving and enjoying life. So, what is this work-life balance everyone seems obsessed with? Simply said, it refers to the division of the physical and mental capacities you devote to your studies and work while saving enough time to invest in rest and recreation. My response: ‘At least I won’t have homework from work!’ Hah! I couldn’t have been more wrong. I remember when I was in school (and I didn’t even particularly hate it), and my mum would dish out ominous warnings about how life would only get busier later. Work-Life Balance – Definition and Meaning
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