http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20140515-work-life-balance-is-dead
usually i find things posted online pretty interesting and meaningful, and even if they aren't posting about the norm, i usually find their arguments sound and giving a new perspective to stereotypes.
however, i just can't agree how this article on work-life balance turned out. perhaps, if you argued about how work-life balance is dead because other things are sacrificed, or just simply acknowledged that most people now places work as a priority, i would probably resigned to the fact that it probably holds true for most people now.
to say that work-life balance is a concept only for those ambitious overworked professionals is bullshit. it's most likely that those overworked professionals are not able to have such a balance. even if they do, they probably sacrifice other things such as sleep. Still, they get their work-life balance anyway.
the author goes on to argue that work and technology is the thing that takes priority in our lives and have the potential to overtake our personal lives. Yes, it has the potential, you allowed it to happen. you said that you allowed distractions such as email to take over ur lives every single moment of ur life. then you should learn a lesson on time management and setting priorities. i've read great articles giving good advice on exactly how not to fall into the trap that you've described.
i'm going to repeat myself, that balance is a choice. to say that work has taken over your life, perhaps it's time to do some reflection: 1) productivity. 2) efficiency. 3) priorities. if u're planning to give urself an excuse to do work stuff amidst dinner with friends or have work at the back of mind while chilling at home with ur family, that's definitely not a balance don't lie to yourself. there's no such thing as consolidation. in effect your mind is only concentrating on 1 thing - that is, work, and family is just a distraction. if your mind isn't concentrating on work, then work is the distraction to you spending time with ur family. either ways, you fail to spend quality time on either, that's just sad for ur family and non-productive for your work.
sometimes, to achieve work life balance, i admit i do compromise a little on sleep. work-life-sleep is a triangle; once you move nearer to 2 goals you end up sacrificing the last one. it's difficult to maintain it as an equilateral triangle. but with effort, i believe it's still attainable. yes, it takes discipline. yes, it takes planning. yes, it takes reflection. and yes, it's definitely your choice.
+ val-* @ 9:51 PM