In his Sydney TEDx talk, Nigel Marsh shares his observations on work life balance. This notion of work life balance often polarises: everybody loves the idea of it, but very few people actually believe that they have it. And it becomes that kind of “I wish” statement.
Nigel has 4 observations which could very well help put work life balance into perspective for you. They are:
If society is going to make any progress on this issue, there needs to be an honest debate
Many measures organisations put in place to address the issue of work life balance actually only serve to mask the core issue. Some careers are fundamentally incompatible with being meaningfully engaged outside of work.
We need to face the issue that governments and corporations aren’t going to solve this
This is all about taking personal responsibility for the lives we choose and design. And ultimately not put the quality of life in the hands of a commercial entity. The core nature of any business is to get the most from its employees to serve the purpose of the organisation. Therefore we need to set the boundaries of our own lives.
Be careful on the timeframe we choose to judge our balance
For example, a day is too short, and “after I retire” is too long. What is that period somewhere in between that can be used? For every individual it will be different.
Work life balance needs to be approached in a ‘balanced’ way
And what is a “balanced life” anyway? Realising you need to make a change and then charging off into it in one aspect still won’t give you the balance you’re after. The areas to look at include: fitness, intellectual, emotional and spiritual areas of your life.
Not only is this interesting for the content, but the observations are shared with plenty of light humour mixed in. It makes this 10-minute TED Talk a great one to watch.
Want to watch even more TED Talks we have shared. Check them all out here.
