Since my first post two nights ago, I've been thinking about the phrase "work/life balance" and asking myself - is this the crux of my problem? Am I struggling with balancing work and life? The answer is no. Could I work less? Of course I could work less, but that is not where my issue lies. My issue is how I spend the time that I am not at work and specifically allocating a minimum amount of that time on myself. Taking this a step further, I wanted to ensure that I had a mechanism to set targets and establish a way to track my progress. After looking for something I could leverage without any luck, I decided to create my own: The Life Pyramid. The Life Pyramid allows me to narrow the focus into the underlying priorities that are important to me (and these might change for someone else): 1. Work, 2. Family and 3. Self.
Looking through this lens, I went ahead and marked my current time allocation as I believe it to be today and where I want it to be at the end of this "52 Weeks of Me" transformation. My starting point was: 75% work, 1% self (1 hour every two weeks at the nail salon) and 24% family. My target time allocation of 52 weeks is 60% work, 10% self and 30% family.
I am posting this here not only as a mechanism to keep me honest but also to open up the conversation with each of you. What do you think? What is Work/Life Balance? Is this really the right measure or do we need a mechanism, like the Life Pyramid, to really dig into how we are spending our time? If you agree and are willing to share, go ahead and drop your current time allocation in the comments below. Are you happy with it? If not, what is your ideal time allocation?
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