Work,Life and Balance

Inspired by a phone conversation.Dedicated to Sowmya.Fellow workaholic,best friend and soul sister:)

Work life balance is arguably the most-often (mis)used term in corporate jargon.Companies promise you this in every presentation they make,as if it could make up for everything else that they lack.Candidates unfailingly ask the HR this question with dreams in their eyes.And then,two years later,disillusioned,they cite the lack of the same thing as the primary reason for quitting their previous job.And so the vicious cycle goes on.

Let's dissect this magical combination of words.As an etymology enthusiast,I obviously tried to trace the origins of the phrase.Wikipedia says it was first used in the 70s in UK,but there seems to be no actual document proving this.The second place it was used was in a publication in the United States dated 1986.

This phrase promises you three things:work,life and balance between the two.By work,I presume the author is referring to satisfying mental/physical labor which gives you a sense of purpose in life.Now,looking at the second term,life,is a little more confusing.I mean this--that life gets a separate mention after work.For a workaholic like me,life is mostly about work.I'm nonplussed by the idea of work and life being radically different.Prior to this,the term used was work-leisure balance,I believe.Which makes more sense to me.

Because the phrase work-life balance carries with it a subtle but powerful implication--life is something that exists outside of work.It makes work sound like the bad guy:You have to earn to live.Therefore,you need to spend 8 hours a day,5 days a week doing something you despise.But that's all I ask of you.Outside those timeslots,you can go on and live your life.The way you want it.Have fun.

I was from a different school of thought.I've always believed that work would involve doing something you're passionate about.Something that wakes you up in the morning.Something that gives you a sense of fulfillment in life.I was recently voicing out my trepidation about monotonous work.A friend told me:The problem is with your attitude,not work.You expect work to be your entire life,that's your naviete.Do you think people across the world have interesting jobs? Why do you think people wait for weekends then? As long as you're working on something that you're okay with and have a good manager,you're covered.Don't get so philosophical about it.Find other fun things to do with your time.Imagine if you had your dream job and you had to work at it all day and all night.Pretty soon,you'll have time for nothing else and start hating what you once loved.That's no way to live.

This left me speechless.I started wondering if that's really the way to live.Since I've heard this,I have come across half a dozen people who subscribe to this tenet and live solemnly and happily by it.

For the final word that makes this phrase what it is.Balance.Again,I see this with some amount of pessimism.Balance between two entities implies that they are contradictory in the first place.You can't have both.There will be a tradeoff somewhere.Being an electronics student,this reminds me of the time we were taught about design tradeoffs--power,area and timing.It came with a powerful analogy which was something like this.Punch in two nails and the system would be fine.The moment you try to hammer in the third,one of the previous two will fall off.Long story short:you cannot get all three.

Which to me,is a very unpleasant image.If I prioritize work,will it mean that I will have no life left whatsoever?Will I look back years later and regret all my decisions? On the contrary,if I put work second,will I end up with a happy life? Or is it the regret road again?These questions honestly scare me.I'm not going to pretend to have the answers to them.I will be brutally honest and tell you that I have no idea at all.

Having presented a dismal picture of a glorious ideal,I think we could use a moment to look at the other side as well.How it's actually supposed to be:

You absolutely love your work.You're living at the bleeding edge and loving every bit of it.Your learning curve looks amazing.Every day brings forth a new challenge,an interesting problem to solve.You are surrounded by people who share your zeal for work.Monday morning blues are non-existent.Work is great and the amazing part is that you're getting paid for this when you'd do it for free.Yet,you maintain your hours strictly.When your day is done,it's done.Period.You have a bunch of other hobbies that you equally love.Family that's a pleasure to spend time with.Weekends are just magical.Life is as it should be.All things bright and beautiful.

Are you rolling your eyes at me?:P I admit,it sounds too utopian to be true.It's like there are 100 variables and out of the zillion alignments they can take,one tiny invisible speck represents this particular state.Nevertheless,it is something all of us aspire for.

There's a quote of Aristotle's that actually seems to be talking about this concept of work-life balance way back in 350B.C :D I take the liberty of ending this article with that quote.

The whole of life is further divided into two parts, business and leisure, war and peace, and of actions some aim at what is necessary and useful, and some at what is honorable. And the preference given to one or the other class of actions must necessarily be like the preference given to one or other part of the soul and its actions over the other; there must be war for the sake of peace, business for the sake of leisure, things useful and necessary for the sake of things honorable.