What’s your Perfect Spaghetti
Sauce?
‘Tossing the Myth around ‘A Perfect
Worklife Balance’
7:30 pm Monday _14th
Sep 2018 _India _My Office cabin
It’s my well balanced self, trying to take
just the best call around ‘WORKLIFE
BALANCE’
Handheld reminder
beeps in for the long pending family get together
Red hues on the
Outlook To-do list give me a haunting look
VIP Inbox beeps in
with a desperate call
And I am zoned out,
telling myself, how do I manage my work
& life and have it all!
7:30 pm Monday_21st
Sep 2018_ India _ My office cabin
It’s again me & my well balanced self ,
however this time a real well balanced one , telling myself that all this while
I was looking for dramatic transformations to get my utopian work life balance in place and here I am now, a witness to
all the botched attempts at it !
My article today , is definitely not an
attempt to have a laundry list given to the readers on how can they manage
their work life balance but it is definitely a hard try yet an attempted one to
Toss out the myth around a perfect work
life balance .
So here’s a simple analogy I could draw on this whole hoo-ha on Work life balance
drawing some relevant logics from the Tipping Point author Malcolm Gladwell
insights into the food industry's pursuit of the perfect spaghetti sauce
& I and make a larger argument about the nature of choice and happiness https://www.ted.com/talks/malcolm_gladwell_on_spaghetti_sauce
Few straight correlations drawn here
that may help us ease out the whole pressure we assumingly brought upon
ourselves.
·
Mind knows not what the tongue wants - Classic study at Harvard for the 600 $m profits
made by Prego taught us the biggest lesson that we may not always know what we
really want , simplistically put as a pressure we brought us into, while
solving the puzzle on how can I not manage when others can ?
·
Life runs on a horizontal plane _There is no good / bad or perfect /imperfect... There
are only varieties that suit us, different & unique for each one of us
·
Platonic notion
– On being able to have it all, 50:50 work & life!!
·
Obsessed with universals – created by self & that by the societal
pressures
Now, as we peel out the unwanted set
principles on work life balance, we must base
our choices on understanding the variabilities and not in the search for
universals
So, here is the next part of the article
where I put down things I do to treat myself well in my well balance environment...
now like I said there is no one size fit all, however some of these are too
easy to execute and I am happy so far, again it’s my notion of managing it, you
would know what’s the best Spaghetti sauce for you!!
ü Focus on
small changes & not dramatic transformations – We all took baby steps first before running around
& this simple rule should get you started
ü Toss out the
myth
- There is no such thing called work life balance , and if this line has
caught your attention enough , I am sure this article would make sense to you
just as much it is making to me
ü Have your
own defined equilibrium – Remember no
size fits all and all cannot be force fitted in one size!
ü Control
& responsibility – should always
lie with the one wanting to control his/her life and no one else , that’s the
success design code
ü The have it
all attitude takes us nowhere , or
else superman would never be beaten by the silly iron man, we all come with the
best and can’t have it all
ü Crossover
between WANT TO BE & SHOULD BE –
takes us to a tipping point! Tell yourself , I am and I solely am who I should
be cos’ all others are already taken ; being yourself is the modus-operandi to
walk this tricky worklife balance crossroad
ü KEEP TIME or
IT KEEPS YOU - It’s the stronger who wins,
when its time vs us, the success lies on how well we manage all we need within
the 24 hours that all of us have ; time is rude and doesn’t budge so managing
it well is the key, Trite but true!
ü Bad habits
are tough to break – 21 day rule
could be a game changer , health is wealth and if we run low on this resource ,
we would be dehydrated in the long run we take in pursuit of happiness &
balance
ü Ask for
support – I am no superman and this
constant reminder to yourself helps , outsourcing non value add , delegating ,
asking for support is sure an enabler
ü Darken the
Blurring technology boundaries –
while technology helps us cheat the time, it often transcends the work &
life bounds, so keep a watch... Few hours off phone/twitter, emails!
ü Fine art of
saying NO – often misjudged , but
tell yourself if it’s a No , it’s a No
ü Eat the
passion fruit _ Pursue what you love is
the key here , time out for your own self , pursuing your passion or a hobby is
a soul food
ü If you want
to crack it – Track it _ Timetables
and self-made mechanism to track where you are on your charters are really
helpful , simple fridge post its are a boom
ü Self-Reward
is the highest reward – I did it and
I am treating myself is the new reward , some me time , a small 30 mins coffee
with blueberry tarts aren’t bad at all J
So as I head out to my favorite café for
some spaghetti, I would urge you to think about what you’d like on your platter
too!
I would be happy to hear from you on how did you like /
dislike this article.
1 comments:
Nicely put up...points to be noted...
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