On Work Life Balance

 Just because you work for yourself doesn't mean you don't report to a tough taskmaster. 

Work life balance is a function of who you are, not where you work. 

I have had the fortune of working with many people who maintained a healthy balance long before it became a thing. And here are some things that are common to all of them - 

A. They always prioritised their time. If you needed to meet them, you needed to send them an agenda and enter the room prepared. 

B. They respected other people's time as much. If you were OOO, there would be no calls, no messages, and no emergencies. They would insist on you doing a good handover to a colleague so that you can take your PTO both guilt free and interruption free. 

C. They included the families. They tried to create at least 1-2 events per year where families got to meet each other. 

D. When they were with you, they were ONLY with you. They made you feel like a real human being, not one of the gadgets they interacted with. 

E. This is the best part. It was very rare for them to be behind on their deadlines. They left office, and they left it with work done. 

F. Most of them were empathic leaders. 

The luckiest break in life was having these leaders around one at the very beginning of one's career. So, one got the right role models early on.

#WorkLifeBalance