Find a seasonal balance in work and life

Share

As the leaves start to change colour, heralding the arrival of fall, you might want to ponder the seasons of your work life, and how they can help you to achieve harmony.

Best-selling author and speaker Jon Gordon argues that instead of talking about work-life balance, we need to talk about seasons. "Work-life balance, at least in the sense that most of us think about it, is a myth. It does not exist. For many people, it never has," he insists.

"Personally, I have never been able to balance the scales of work and life on a day-to-day basis. Rather, I've come to realize that the dance between work and life is more about rhythm than balance."

He argues for most people there are seasons when hard work and extra hours are a necessity, but other seasons where rest is feasible – if not demanded by an empty order book – and desirable. "You have to create downtime in your schedule. I'm sure there is downtime; you have to find it. Find your yearly balance. Find that time when the land has to rest," he says.

Mr. Gordon doesn't come from a farming background or even tend a garden, although he does love to be out in nature. His latest fable, The Seed, developed from a vision he had of a farmer giving a young man a seed. The book is about finding your passion at work, and uses a seasonal metaphor, but he has since added to it by rethinking work-life balance. He urges you to:

· Let go of the work-life balance notion and instead think about purpose and passion. Most passionate people don't have balanced lives. A rock star on tour or an Olympic athlete preparing for competition leads a life passionately out of balance, for at least that period. In many ways, Mr. Gordon suggests, a perfectly balanced life is a perfectly tepid life. "When your goal is to achieve work-life balance, you'll be constantly disappointed and so will your loved ones," he says. "But when you approach every day with passion and purpose, whether you're working long hours to prepare an important presentation or staying up late with your daughter to work on her science project, you can find joy and happiness in whatever it is you're pursuing at that moment."

· Look at your work-life blend over the past year, considering it as a whole, and study how balanced it was and, more importantly, how it played out in terms of seasons. Did you have times to work hard, and others to recharge? Could you arrange that for the coming year?

· Identify the seasons in your company's work flow. I worked for three summers for a chartered accountancy firm while at university, and would report for duty on May 1, just as the most intense season had ended and the last thing the people overseeing me wanted was a young pup charged up for an energetic season. Many industries similarly have busy seasons and not-so-busy seasons. Mr. Gordon suggests it may be easier to plan your work/home life flow around those seasons – not just for vacations, but in terms of hours of work. Maybe in slow periods you can leave a little earlier, just as you stay later for the busy periods.

· Keep in mind your family's seasons as well. Not everything can be determined by work. In summer, when the children are out of school, you may be in demand to look after them. When a new baby is born, that's a season in which you have to find time for family, and make it up at work later. If a parent becomes sick, again you must adjust. "You have to go where you are needed. If you are worried about work at those times, you can take comfort in knowing that there will be a period when you can apply more of yourself to the job," he says.

· When you're at work, really engage, and when you're at home, really be at home. "When you focus on planning your life around the rhythms of work and home, you have to be fully committed to the demands of the specific season," he says. "So when you're in a family season, don't constantly check your BlackBerry. Don't take work calls during dinner. Devote as much of yourself as possible to your family."

He acknowledges that at times you will run into a boss who considers this bunk. But he insists that, too, is seasonal, and usually such leaders don't last. The media puts the spotlight on those intense leaders, he says, but "there aren't that many of them around. I hear the opposite stories all the time, of people who have seasons."

And so can you, if you allow the metaphor into your life.