Managing Work Life Balance

This is a topic that I was asked about recently.

In the high-tech world these days, it's particularly challenging to achieve a balance that enables a strong career focus, while still leaving time to have a broad and rewarding family life. This has been brought into even sharper focus recently after having two kids. As I raise them, I am preparing them to compete in a global marketplace that will be the most level and open than at any time in history (Go read "The World is Flat" right now if you haven't yet). The result is that parents in our circles are sacrificing more and more to raise "super-kids" that are capable of excelling in the new global economy. Oh, and by the way, somehow we need to save for retirement along the way.

So, given that context, how can we organize our lives to achieve all these things and still remain sane? I've been working for about 20 years, and here some things that have worked for me. I hope you find them useful.

Get school out of the way - I decided after graduating from Berkeley that I would go directly to graduate school (University of Illinois) and finish up prior to joining the work world. I have seen many, many people struggle to try and go back later in life and get an MS or MBA. It is brutally painful, and gets harder and harder as life progresses (home ownership, wife, kids, etc). On the flip-side, having an MS on my resume has helped open more doors for me, more senior role possibilities, etc.

Diversify your efforts - I envy people who have a strong hobby or interest that can become a secondary income source, like perhaps owning rental property or an eBay business. Even if it doesn't involve income, something like church volunteer work, or Boy Scouts , or coaching kids sports, helps force more balance and can have side benefits like putting down roots in the community. I'm slowly improving on this. Kids force the issue.

Become a morning person - My wife is a morning person, so she got me switched into this mode early on, and I've enjoyed it ever since. By allocating 2 solid hours early in the morning (5:30-7:30), you can put a firm workout routine place, and still have time for personal finance, etc. It's much easier to do this in the morning than try to fit in late in the day or evening because of how other work creeps in.

Use your vacation time for cryin' out loud - Seems so obvious, and yet companies pocket a huge amount of money because employees don't take their vacation. If you don't think you can take off a bunch of time, do the following. Take off 1 day a month and schedule errands, doctors appointments, haircuts, etc. for that day. It does wonders.

Work on time management - There's a lot of ways to improve your time management, but keep in mind you still need to divide the saved time between work / personal to maintain balance. Here are just a few things that work for me:

• Don’t' live in the inbox. Get a system for managing e-mail, and stick to it.
• Check e-mail only a few times a day, and turn off the pop-up alert on e-mail client.
• Adopt a todo list system to track tasks, prioritize, etc. I use Outlook + Franklin Covey's PlanPlus
• Stop massive e-mail threads. Brutally inefficient. Either meet to resolve, or use Skype for tracking IM discussion
• Set up auto-pay for all bills, especially main credit card

Prioritize balance over short term efforts - It's important to keep this balanced perspective in mind when project deadlines loom. It's ok to work more for short periods, but often it becomes the norm, and pretty soon you've been working 70 hours a week for 3 years straight. I did this when I was single and worked at a small start-up. I don't regret it, but if I had it to do over again, I would try to be more well-rounded during that time.

Re-evaluate your career / life every year - At your annual review cycle, you should take a look at your job, your life, the mix between the two, and decide if a change is in order. If you've been in a job for a long time, consider a job change. It's good for you're resume, helps you re-charge your batteries, expands your personal networks, and plus you get to start with a completely empty inbox.

Change jobs within the same company - If you like a company, but want to try something else, ask for a temporary or permanent job change. Your manager would rather let you have a change than lose you altogether. And you'll come back refreshed with some new skills that will help you work better for him.

Sharpen the Saw - This was a phrase used in "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" (which you must read BTW). The point is that you must take the time out from work to sharpen your tools. This means technical skills, personal skills (e.g. speaking / presentations), personal fitness, spiritual growth. You should allocate 4 hours per week for exercise. You should take occasional technical classes. You should volunteer to repair computers at church. These items should be part of your annual plan. Give yourself a reward when you meet the goals.

This just hits the tops of the waves, but I hope it helps.

Comments

[Srikanth]

Excellent blog. Very good presentation with clean and *to the point* content.