Failing to strike a balance between personal and professional life will always yield unbalanced results! It not only affects your mental health but also ruins your connection with people. Also, companies suffer to a great extent up to 25-40% losses if it doesn't let its employees maintain this balance.
"As per one of the surveys done by Monster.com, 60% of the Indians asserted their balance between the personal life and the professional life as extremely awful."
Balancing your role in your personal life and professional life without compromising on your hobbies, outings, spending time with loved ones, working on your goals, and at the same time leveling up the companies your working for with your skills is the need of the hour! Let's understand the way to fill this gap and some related stats.
Professional and Personal life Balance Stats, Due to Covid Situation - 2020
- As per 'Microsoft’s Work Trend Index Report,' India witnessed the largest workday span while working from home affecting their mental health.
- Australia, 2020 witnessed the largest increase by 45% in the workday span.
- As per 'Rescue Time Study', there are only 2 hours 48 minutes of productive hours in a day.
- As per the 'State of Work Report done by Workfront,' only 43% of the time is spent by the employees on their major job tasks each day. Insignificant meetings are a major reason that came behind this loophole.
- As per 'Microsoft Work Trend Index Report,' ⅓ of the workers faced a heightened burnout rate, India in the last six months.
- Mixing personal & professional life was the biggest stress point as per 37% of the employees in India, followed by working hours standing at 28%.
Professional and Personal life Balance Stats, America - 2020
- As per the 'Medical News,' 4/10 workers work for almost 50 hours every week. Workers working more than 55 hours/week have 1.66 times the chances of having depression & 1.74 times chances of having anxiety.
- As per 'WHO - Harish Saras,' - 80% of Americans are stressed at work because of poor balance between personal and professional life whereas, in Australia, the number is only 39%.
- Disbalance between personal and professional life causes a $300 billion loss to the companies in America every year.
- As per 'Commercial Cafe', the Gen Xers & Millennial have got the low satisfaction with the balance between personal and professional life.
Professional and Personal life Balance Stats, India - 2020
As per the survey done for 2000 working professionals, India by 'Monster.com' -
- About 60% of professionals in relationships revealed lack of work-life balance has resulted in making their romantic partners rude, short-tempered, and irritated.
- 16% of the professionals have been the victim of depression.
- 17% of them encountered a lack of sleep due to work life and home life imbalance.
- About 78% of the Indians, would like to have segments - meaning they want to draw a line between their personal life and professional life instead of mixing them.
6 Ways to balance professional and personal life -
1.Priority via TO-DO-LIST- Without planning, things we do will ditch us in 80% of the cases! Don't be a victim of failure because of improper planning. A night before waking up, plan for your day/week to have ease of walking barefoot throughout the day.
Morning Schedule
- Waking up Time? (Eg., 5:00 am)
- Gym/Yoga/Meditation Time?
- Breakfast Time?
- Leaving for office time?
Office To-do-list Schedule
- What's the first thing to do after reaching the office?
- Office Meetings?
- Office Presentation?
- Daily KRA
- Lunch Break?
- Leaving Office time
After office schedule
- Going to play a guitar?
- Music classes?
- Taking kids out to play garden
- Dinner Timings?
- Writing about your day
- Sleeping Time?
Once you learn to prioritize things in a structured way life will become a lot easier and happier.
2.'HALFWAY' Meetings - Instead of exhausting yourself by putting yourself in either the office torture or by outdoor meetings (travelling for hours), you must plan them halfway. Ask your client to meet you in a nearby office shop or a good eatery place. This will save your energy, time, and travel expenses. Also, it will freshen up your mood by visiting a chill area rather than his office.
3.Give yourself a 'BREAK' - Weekly outings like going for CAMPING, TREKKING, DISNEY-LAND, HISTORICAL PLACES, etc with families or friends are the best ways to keep your energy to the highest! Always plan something interesting to energize your mental health and keep you happy from the inside. Such exercises also have proven ways to yield higher results in your professional life keeping you active and creative 24*7. It is one of the simplest ways to experience beauty, nature, air, water, animals, bonfires - they all are natural healers! Ultimately, it makes you stay fresh maintaining a healthy balance between your personal and professional front.
4.Mind 'MANAGEMENT' - Controlling your mind seems the most difficult task till it's done, doesn't it? Don't be a slave to your brain! Instead make it your best friend who helps you grow professionally and personally! Make sure to do the tasks necessary to strike this balance by the ways given below -
- Reading books
- Writing (about anything)
- Going for a morning walk
- Meditation / Yoga / Gym
- Being Grateful for the moment
- Playing with kids (Children are the best healers)
- Talk to your friend who always lifts you to do better in life
A balance between the two will decide not only your future but how well your mental health is!
5,Daily SELF ANALYSIS - Analyse your performance at the end of the day regularly. Cross-check if you were able to keep a tab on the to-do list or not. Make notes where you failed - what stopped you from achieving them - were you forced to work for extra hours? Whatever might be the reason - find it out and save yourself for the better!
6.Do 'WHAT-YOU-LOVE' & love 'WHAT-YOU-DO' - Step on to choosing the profession that you love the most! Working this way will never feel like a burden or an extra pressure on your head. Only 40% of the people choose the career of their choice due to so many reasons. Also, if you are among that 40%, you will be able to think creatively for the business by voluntarily putting in extra effort. It will help you in staying at peace, and long-term satisfaction. Apart from your working hours, you can make time for your hobbies or get along with your families.
Final Words - Scheduling everything and sticking to it is what's going to make your life more interesting and happening! Dragging yourself to get through the month either by working extra hours for your company or by being too emotional with your personal life affecting your job life isn't going to give you satisfaction and peace in the end. You will always end up in trouble for sure if you continue this practice of prioritizing one over the other!
References -
https://elitecontentmarketer.com/work-life-balance-stats/
https://goremotely.net/blog/work-life-balance/#:~:text=6.66%25%20of%20workers%20feel%20they,life%20balance%20in%20their%20lives.&text=A%20large%20percentage%20of%20employees,their%20lives%20and%20their%20work.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.economictimes.com/magazines/panache/60-working-indians-rate-work-life-balance-from-average-to-terrible-monster-com-survey/amp_articleshow/68183578.cms
https://www.roche.com/careers/our-locations/asia/india/service/folder/20_tips_for_maintain.htm