We hear the term work-life balance all the time in education. It makes no difference. Teachers and school leaders still consistently put in extraordinary hours going above and beyond their contractual obligations. How many industries really expect employees to work for free?
Lack of work-life balance is a key driver for educators seeking a career change (the others being lack of respect and autonomy in case you wondered). So, what is work-life balance and how do you get the balance right?
Firstly, let’s dispel the myth. Work-life balance is not some binary opposite to be sought out like a golden goose. Work is a part of life. Fact.
When you stop chasing after the false holy grail of a work-life balance and start to focus on the reality of how satisfied you are with your LIFE, you can start to refine what you are looking for and use that ‘search energy’ productively.
Let’s illustrate this. Imagine a set of scales. If you put work on one side and life on the other, how do you determine the balance point? Hours spent working? This is the myth that is in schools. It doesn’t work because reducing hours spent working will not alter the scales.
Why? Because if you love your job, you don’t care how many hours you work if it is harmonious with the life you want to lead. And if you hate your job, do you really think doing less hours will make you hate it less?
How satisfied are you with your life?
This is the focus. Work is a part of your life. If work is great fit for you as a person and what you want from life, guess what… you’ll have balance. If work is a misaligned jigsaw piece in your life, no amount of analysis of duties, time-monitoring or bashing it with a hammer will get that piece to fit. The balance is NOT there – it will NEVER be there until you re-align work as a part of your life.
Stop subscribing to the work-life balance myth. You are looking in the wrong places if you are trying to find it.
You have ONE life. Career paths and the roles you work in weave through that life. Are you happy that the balance is right for the life you want to lead?
If not, you have found the right place to start to find it… schedule a free consultation now.
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