The Work-Life Balance Issue

          There seems to be a perpetual dichotomy in our lives. It is known as the work-life balance problem. In the pursuit of happiness, man is rushing to make money so that he and his family can enjoy. But the more he rushes to earn the less time he has to enjoy. And the more he enjoys, the less time he has to earn. So it seems that the two are in eternal discordance. How is it possible to balance these two opposing forces?

   

  The great Einstein has said that a problem cannot be solved by the same type of thinking that created it. So let’s try to look at the problem differently.

   

  One way of doing so is: why separate work from enjoyment. Why consider work as a mere source of money, which will then buy enjoyment. Why not enjoy work itself? That may well be true but then comes the question, how? How does one enjoy work, which is not always enjoyable. Let us take recourse to literature — The Elixir by George Herbert:

   

  Teach me, my God and King, 

     In all things Thee to see, 

  And what I do in anything, 

     To do it as for Thee.

  A servant with this clause,

     Makes drudgerie divine: 

  Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws, 

     Makes that and th’ action fine.

   

  Put less poetically, it talks of the having an higher ideal or higher vision in one’s work If there is no ideal in the action, the work becomes mechanical, dull, routine, boring. But even is there is an ideal in the work, if one is able to work for something beyond the money, status, etc. There still remains the question of time. A person needs time to spend with his family and other interests. If all time is spent at work what about the rest of life?

   

  Is there a way to spend less time at work and yet achieve more? Yes, there is such a way. It is known as clearer thinking. The more clear the thinking the more the work accomplished in the given time. Fuzzy thinking makes a job take longer. It is the difference between working hard and working right. A handcart puller is working very hard but what he will achieve may not be much.

   

  Sharpening the axe is better than chopping away with great effort with a blunt one. Some people make in one day what is a year ‘s salary for others. Clearer thinking gives a quantum leap in output. Like inventing the wheel raised life onto another level.

   

  The way to develop clearer thinking is through reflection. The more the thinking one does, specially on philosophical literature, the more clear a thinker does a person become.

Indian Thoughts Archives