So where do we start? I’ve been in full-time work since 1989, (36 years). So I have a little experience of this.
Well there are 24hours in a day, generally 5 days in a working week, and we work an average of 48 weeks in a year (Annual holiday/national holidays, Days off to Thorpe Park in work time etc.), and we are generally expected to work 40 hours per week (you need to check your T&C’s of your individual contract).
40 hours per week equates to 8hours per day over the 5 days for a full time employee (FTE), so working an 8 hour day means we have 16 hours left to play with, of this we sleep for about 7-8 hours, leaving 8 hours to travel to and from work and have some downtime. (Hybrid working is great for this you can roll out of bed in your PJ’s put a sweatshirt on and be ready for your morning meeting!! (You know who you are!).
“Down time” away from work is critical to a well rounded work life balance, this can be impacted by work deadlines, children, family matters and just “Life Stuff” in general, and then all the additional weekend trials and tribulations.
Lets get back to balancing your work and life during the week.
So a standard day for me is (working from home), roll out of bed at 7am, Carry out my ablutions make 2 cups of tea (one for me and one for the long haired chief of staff), have breakfast, bit of tidying up and then start work by 8am, I don’t tend to take a full lunch break, I usually have my lunch “Al Desko”, and carry on working, as they say time is money. I finish anywhere around 4:30/5:00pm depending on work load and critical project deadlines.
Wait I hear you say, 8 – 4:30 with out a lunch break is 8.5hours, over a week that is an extra 2.5hours. (I do sometimes have a lunch break so this time can vary)
Well yes it is, as is well known you are generally optimal in work for 85% of your time, trying to be 100% optimal and focused pushes you towards burn out.
This is where your line manager comes into their own, understanding you are putting in extra time so when you need that bit of leeway when you need to pop out during work time.
So how do you balance your work/life, you have to be selfish and lay some ground rules down for yourself.
Set a start time that works for you and the employer, we have an 08:30 meeting every morning, so for me starting at 8am helps to clarify my day ahead pre-meeting.
Set an end time that you work to, yes this will be on a sliding scale as you may be 5-10mins from finishing something, and you may lose the flow of what you are doing if you stop and try to pick this up in the morning.
Set expectations with yourself and your line management, about deadlines and how much you can actually achieve in the time given, if it is going to take 4hours to complete something (with out interruptions), state it will take 4hours, don’t put yourself under unnecessary pressure, your line manager will then be able to manage expectations further up the ladder.
If you have clubs or groups that you go to let you line manager know, that generally you won’t be available at those times especially if you have to go straight from work finishing.
As with anything we all need to be flexible and agile balancing work and our life outside of work.
To balance yourself make sure you do things that you enjoy, taking the dog for a walk, petting your cat (If it lets you), read a book (my fall back position), watch a movie etc.
There are 2 mantra’s that you can live by, you need to chose which one suits you and at what times .
- Live to Work.
- Work to Live.
Quite simple and anyone who has been in long term employment will have done both of these at one or more times.
If you live to work, don’t forget there is a world out there and take time for yourself, your family and friends.
If you work to live, don’t forget to be focused on work at work.
There is nothing wrong with living to work or working to live, you need to be comfortable in your own decisions, be true to yourself and you will bring the best version of yourself to work.
By Adam Dews
Adam Dews is Senior Network Engineer at Skewb. To speak with him about this topic in more detail, you can connect with him on LinkedIn.
