Australian Research shows that work life balance is now more important than ever for men.
Men are taking a stand for their families and the future of Australia through demanding the opportunity for a more active, hands on role in parenting.
Recent figures show, men’s involvement is now creating the same tension between work and home life as women, with both saying that they rarely feel work and family is in balance, and that even when they do get to go to family events they can’t enjoy them because their mind is still on work.
Finding the right balance is something we all need and with conscious thought, can achieve. There will always be times where life gets hectic and things fall through the cracks. When this happens we can recontextualise the pressure we all put on ourselves.
If we accept the competing demands are part of twenty first century life and take a solution focused approach, overall, we will be able to achieve a happy balance to the work and family life conflict. Focusing on what’s important, not just on what’s on the list to be done, is a powerful and freeing place to start.
There are a number of things we can do and techniques we can employ to ensure we achieve this happy, healthy balance, but first we need to ask ourselves a couple of questions.
1. How important is my work-life balance to me?
2. Am I willing to put in the effort and get the help required to achieve this?
If you have answered yes to both questions you are ready to begin.
Following are some key activities you can do to help get you going.
1. Consider the seven elements that make up the Human Wellbeing Ecosystem model I have developed here and get a baseline as to how you sit in your overall wellbeing ecosystem. This will help you discover where you may need to make changes. Now you know where to start. Start with just one small change and watch the difference that this creates.
2. Brainstorm what steps you can take to create more balance in your life. By making sure you are balanced, healthy and happy you will have more energy available to help meet all your commitments. Remember, just one small step can make a huge difference to your sense of control over your life.
3. Compartmentalise activities and learn some techniques to help be present and give quality attention where and when it is required. That old saying “when you drink tea, drink tea” is a good benchmark to remind you to just be, doing what you are doing, for that moment and not try to juggle 100 things at once.
Work-Life Balance doesn’t just materialise out of thin air.
It is something you have to be serious about, and something you must work at to achieve.
By doing this you take a solution focused approach to solving your issue and become happier, healthier and more confident in the process.
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