What Is Work-life Balance And Why Is It Important?
One of the characteristics of how the work context has evolved in recent decades has to do with how difficult it is to distinguish between personal life and professional life.
As the years go by and we enter the 21st century, the line that separates the private sphere and the workplace becomes more blurred, as if paid work were already such a flexible and malleable concept that, from time to time, we neglect ourselves. , “fill in” many of those moments of the day when we ask ourselves: do I have something better to do?
Faced with this new reality, and especially after the appearance of the COVID-19 crisis and the popularization of teleworking, it is more necessary than ever to take into account what is known as work-life balance Let’s see what it is and some tips for managing it.
As its name suggests, work-life balance consists of the situation of balance between the time and resources devoted to paid work, on the one hand, and the time and resources devoted to everything else, on the other Therefore, it is a necessary element both to know how to establish a pattern of consistent paid work and to, in the medium and long term, guarantee living conditions capable of providing physical and psychological well-being, and in which it is possible to maintain social relationships. healthy and functional.
So, Those who have a good work-life balance not only correctly manage the time they dedicate to working “officially” the necessary hours ; Furthermore, they have access to family conciliation, the possibility of being part of the social fabric (through relationships with friends, neighbors, etc.) and they have adequate rest and leisure time to be happy.
In short, this balance between what you work for money and what you do in other areas of life cannot be solved simply by blurring the first of these elements, making extra hours pass for moments of rest (for example, working from home). laptop while watching a movie at night) or disguising networking or customer service situations under the illusion that they are social relationships of friendship.
That there is a good work-life-balance implies, among other things, that It is possible to clearly distinguish between these two spheres of life
Why is it important to keep this in mind when managing time and resources?
Knowing how to establish a good balance between professional life and private life is important for several aspects related to both people’s well-being and power relations, but three reasons are worth highlighting.
1. Without clear guidelines and boundaries, work tends to cover everything
Parkinson’s law says that “work expands to cover all available time,” and something similar happens specifically in the work context: if the time we dedicate to paid work is not clearly limited and the amount of resources established in advance that we can spend on it throughout the day and week, It is easy for it to spread, without us realizing it, covering all the moments in which we are not sure what to do
This is especially true in countries like Spain, which stand out for having a large number of self-employed workers considering their active population. Many self-employed workers tend to exploit themselves, in part due to job insecurity, but in other cases it is because they do not know how to measure time or realize the lifestyle habits that generate discomfort and dependence on work.
2. Physical and psychological well-being requires this balance
Having an unbalanced life in which work covers everything not only introduces us into a spiral of constant search for better results; In addition, it wears down our physical and psychological well-being.
Anxiety problems and work burnout are among the most common forms of emotional distress in situations of this type as well as the medical complications derived from this unhealthy lifestyle: joint problems from staying in the same position for too long, being overweight from not having time to cook, etc.
3. It is necessary to live beyond responsibilities
Many people believe that work-life balance consists of managing the time dedicated to paid work and work at home or related to raising children. But this is a mistake: this balance must include moments of leisure and rest dedicated to oneself, as well as situations of informal social relationships, which do not seek a specific purpose beyond being in the company of others. If not, we will be increasingly isolated
To do?
So far we have already seen several key ideas that help recognize possible problems regarding work-life balance. First of all, The ambiguity when setting schedules makes it easy for companies (or ourselves as self-employed workers) to demand overtime under the idea that “you have nothing better to do.” and this can be exacerbated in contexts such as the coronavirus pandemic, in which people work through a computer connected to the Internet to which they almost always have access.
Secondly, some people make the mistake of assuming that they do not spend excessive time at work because they are able to access the resources to stay alive in the short term, without realizing that this way of working makes physical and psychological problems appear little by little, in a more subtle way than the simple deprivation of what a salary can buy, which makes it more difficult to detect that something is wrong.
In third place, We must not make the mistake of believing that work-life balance is just family conciliation or that it only applies to people with children: each person, by virtue of being such, should be able to have time to dedicate to themselves, without always having to justify themselves by appealing to specific responsibilities.
However, Going from words to practice when managing work-life balance well is not as easy as keeping these conclusions in mind ; You have to act accordingly. And to achieve this, it may be necessary to have help from friends, family or psychology professionals. In the end, it is easy to fall, without realizing it, into routines and habits of self-sabotage that lead us to behave in a way contrary to what we believe: “I deserve time, but precisely this month it is very important that I make an effort to obtain that time.” promotion”, “I don’t get enough rest, but I can’t say no to my boss”, etc.
Are you interested in having professional psychological support?
If you are looking for in-person or online psychological assistance services, I invite you to contact me. I am a psychologist specialized in the cognitive-behavioral model and I serve both individuals and companies, intervening in cases of problems managing anxiety and other emotions, the need to learn to manage conflicts or communicate in a more assertive way, or the lack of time management skills, among other problems. You can use my services both in person in Madrid and through video call sessions.
