What were you doing, who was there, where you, etc. Reflecting on experiences of flow - when you feel completely engaged in what you are doing, lose a sense of time. There are many ways to build your awareness of your priorities and values, such as: Identifying what’s most important to youĪ pre-requisite for balance is clarity about your priorities and values. Thus, long hours at the office that keep them from volunteering and spending time with family may leave them feeling off-kilter. However, others may feel community and family are most important, and work is a lesser priority. Instead, balance involves making more substantial investments, and having more positive experiences, in the areas that are most important to you.įor that reason, if you feel your career is the most important thing to you, it might make sense that you invest a lot in your work, and feel a bit out-of-balance if you are asked to make trade-offs that diminish the energy you put into your work.
Generally, you are not looking for the same returns in all areas of life. Life balance isn’t about equality across life domains. That is how your "investments" of time, competence, and feeling align with your priorities and values.
Life in perfect balance full#
If you invest a great deal of yourself in a particular area of your life, achieve a lot in it, but don’t much enjoy the experience, the related negative feelings may have an impact on your sense of balance.īut, involvement, competence, and feelings are not the full story. It's wholly possible to work out a way to be physically present for many activities, but to be so exhausted that mental or emotional presence is out of reach.Ĭompetence indicates that it's not enough to put time and energy into something - you want to feel as though you are effective at it as well.įeeling demonstrates that it also matters if your experiences in different domains are positive or negative.
The term involvement suggests balance is not merely about how much time you invest in various areas of your life, but also if you are fully present during that time. Involvement: How much time and energy are you investing in various life roles?Ĭompetence: How effective are you across different life domains? What are you achieving?įeelings: On the whole, what are your experiences in different domains? Positive or negative?Īlignment: How well your investments in each area align with your values and priorities. You derive a sense of balance based on a few factors related to different domains in your life (e.g., work, relationships, community involvement, personal development, health and well-being, etc.) Four factors that influence our sense of balance It’s these themes that can be helpful as you aim to better understand and define balance for yourself. Lucky for us, this same research also indicates there are common themes across these conceptualizations. That said, a better understanding of the concept can help support you in the definition process.Ī recent study indicates there are over 230 different conceptualizations of balance in the academic research - work-life balance, work-family balance, work-family conflict, work/non-work balance and so on. You can't look to your boss, friends, gurus, or celebrities to define it for you. That means you have an opportunity, but also a responsibility when it comes to life balance. The answer to that question is in your hands.
0 kommentar(er)
