THE PROBLEM WITH THE “WORK-lIFE BALANCE"
Written by Raj Suppiah | june 29, 2022 | Leadership
The problem with the work-life balance….
We try to fit it in too small of a container.
Imagine this:
You have 50 Work red marbles
You have 50 Life blue marbles
You want to have an equal amount of marbles, but your container only fits 70 marbles. You’re left with sacrificing a bit of each or more of one.
Or your container fits 100 exactly, and marbles fall out when life gets shaky (i.e. emotional stressors, life events, new opportunities).
Here’s an idea…what happens if you could increase your container to 150?
Now you have space for 50 more marbles! Those can be vacation marbles, emergency marbles, family marbles, and my favorite, SLEEP marbles.
The belief in a fixed capacity limits us.
What do we tell our clients, especially those that are athletes? They can increase their capacity by…increasing their load. If you are able to lift 100 pounds but keep lifting that all the time, your capacity won’t increase. You need to move to the next level and lift something heavier. It will feel difficult at first, but over time it will become easy. Then, once you become comfortable with it, you should lift something even heavier. Your personal capacity is NO DIFFERENT. Keep lifting heavier. Take new challenges beyond your comfort zone. Work on something you aren’t comfortable with. Have a coach, mentor or partner that can PUSH YOU.
Over time, you will be able to fit ALL 100 marbles into that container. There is going to be pressure, tension, discomfort. But, here’s the best part - The container can expand and YOU ARE THAT CONTAINER
You are not glass.
You are neuroplastic (my healthcare readers will get this). You will expand, those 100 marbles will fall in easily and you’re ready for more.