So, True or False: Working longer hours = greater productivity
Right, so if you’re overdoing it, that would be: False. Remember the old days – prior to the rise of the 2020 pandemic, when most companies limited or avoided extending telecommuting options to the vast majority of eligible employees in fear their workforce might collapse into a rotting heap of slackers? But If you’re like me abandoning professional commitments is the last thing a company would need to be concerned about – in fact, it’s just the opposite: For many of us, if left unchecked, working from home could fairly easily translate to working almost around the clock. As it turns out, while that prospect may thrill a boss in the short-run, but the extreme practice if chronic, would eventually become counter-productive and decidedly less thrilling.
It’s fairly common knowledge at this point that working excessively can lead to impaired performance and overload burn out masquerading as chronic fatigue, a lack of attentiveness, behavioral changes like work-induced anxiety. In fact a meQuilibrium study comprised of 2,000 full-time employees explores how work-induced anxiety manifests; how to predict burnout; and identifies the types of individuals more likely to be at risk. Then of course there are other related health risks – and who needs more of that right now?
Speaking of risks; and at the risk of underwhelming working parents and caregivers who have also recently morphed into instant educators, I will plow ahead with the following understatement: Conversely, a balanced work and private life actually makes us better multitaskers. As it turns out, we’re more effective at managing responsibilities in each area of our lives when our thoughts, emotions, values, tasks and goals are aligned. That said, we may have already hit an extreme imbalance by the time we realize the scales need adjusting.
But we’re working from home now – making it easier to streamline our divergent roles and responsibilities, and problem solved right? Not so fast. Like I said, for some of us working from home (WFH) merely transferred the 2 to 4 hours normally spent commuting from the highway – where we may have at least had some opportunity to decompress – to the home office (sofa, kitchen counter, etc.). And worse, we may actually need to guard against WFH blurring if not totally obliterating the boundaries between where the workday ends and the Home-life begins. We might have already allowed job commitments to handily invade the space that a private life should occupy. In addition to your 14 to 16-hour WFH day morphing seamlessly into a 19-hour plus marathon, what are some other indicators we’ve come dangerously close to tipping the scales of work-life balance? Here are three tell-tale signs that we’re within striking distance of the dark side:
Three Signs That Work and Life are Out of Balance
- You’re forgetting birthdays and special occasions or other important commitments, and avoiding social interaction.
- You’re postponing opening mail until unpaid bills catch you by surprise.
- You’re experiencing frequent illnesses as a result of regularly neglecting your health.
Still the situation is fixable. But you’ve got to want to fix it, and you’ve got to believe that you actually can. To get started, here are a few tips that will hopefully fuel your resilience:
- Pinpoint Symptoms of Imbalance
First, figure out how your being out of balance manifests itself. Try and observe your behavioral changes. For some it can be frequent or chronic exhaustion, abrasiveness, defensiveness, or routine illness. Are you experiencing one or more of these side effects right now?
- Analyze Your Balancing Act
Chose productivity over perfectionism and honestly assess whether you realistically have sufficient time to attend to both your needs and the needs of others who rely on you. A feasible segmentation of availability for your needs and the needs of those that matter to you is key to establishing balance. Bear in mind that no two work/life balance calibrations are the same, so avoid basing yours on the perceived performance outcomes of colleagues or acquaintances, and realize that even your own current calibration can and most likely will shift based on changing circumstances and demands. List the activities that currently occupy your time, then determine what an optimal or perhaps simply more ideal list would be, then map out a path to achieving your equilibrium (progressively or aggressively depending on the degree and speed with which you need to adjust). Expect to prioritize – focusing on important activities aligned with your goals, and eliminating or de-prioritizing those that don’t.
- Decide Who’s in Control
Can you pinpoint events, circumstances or people that trigger either your sense of imbalance or your sense of harmony and control. Try to identify where your center of control lies. If it’s primarily internal, you’d generally have a stable sense of well-being and calm even amidst chaos. Still, these challenging times can threaten the composure of even the most sage, serene personality or practitioner. So an external center of control, where your reactions are disproportionately influenced by situations or by other people leaves you much more likely to be anxious, lacking confidence, and displaying emotional and physical signs of stress.
Counteracting the influence of some of these external stressors and regaining internal control will take some effort, but it’s worth the investment. Try journaling tasks that you need to accomplish within a short duration – perhaps for the next week. Note whether each task was your decision or someone else’s. Compare the two and make any adjustments in favor of decisions that you control and tasks that are your priority – not someone else’s (with the exception of legitimately critical tasks assigned or required by a boss or other authority). Then segment professional and personal demands, and their respective benefits. Compare the two categories, and reconcile any inconsistencies, incompatibilities, or conflicts. These assessments may seem a little daunting and methodical at first, but are well worth it in the end. They will require less and less effort, and can become almost second nature and more fluid as you dynamically move through the space between work and home.
Today’s astute companies get it. They realize that happier employees generally perform better, and they respect and encourage efforts to balance gratifying work and personal fulfillment. If you’re fortunate enough to belong to the kind of forward-thinking organization that endorses equilibrium – don’t hesitate: Carpe the work diem but stay sane!