One Grey Elephant Balancing
I have a children’s song stuck in my head.
One grey elephant balancing, Step by step on a piece of string, He thought is was such a wonderful stunt, That he called for another, Elephant!
And so the song goes on - 2, 3, 4 grey elephants all implausibly balancing on one piece of string, until…
5 grey elephants balancing, Step by step on a piece of string, All of a sudden the piece of string broke, And down came all the elephant folk!
What a perfect analogy for our theme this month. Let’s say the piece of string is you, and the grey elephants are the load, or responsibilities, you carry. What I’m getting at is Work-Life Balance. How many “grey elephants” can you balance before you “break”?
In preparation for this article, I put out a call for help. I asked…
Work-Life Balance -
How do you define it?
Is it attainable?
Do you have it?
How do you make sure you get it?
Here’s what I learned. Some people had never heard the expression. Some felt it was elusive and indefinable. Some enjoyed their work so much they found it hard to separate work from the rest of their life. Dee Le Blang joked that “it is the fine line between insanity and being able to smile each day“. Interestingly, no-one defined being “out of balance” as having too much “life” and not enough “work”, always the reverse. It seems to me “work-life balance” is a subjective term with as many interpretations as there are situations.
I was encouraged to hear the great majority felt work-life balance is attainable. Far fewer, though, believed they currently achieved a satisfactory work-life balance. On further examination, a pattern emerged.
Those who were dissatisfied
- often felt overwhelmed
- felt they had no control
- felt they took on too many responsibilities
- rarely took time off
Those who were satisfied
- worked at achieving that satisfaction
- planned their time off
- spent time winding down
- pursued hobbies and interests outside work
Now it’s over to you. Let’s hear your ideas on Work-Life Balance and how it can be achieved. In other words, how many elephants can you balance? And how do you keep that string strong?
And I’ll keep singing…
One grey elephant balancing…
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for me a big part of my work i really love, it then feels a little more like “my life” so it causes a balancing i wasn’t expecting. however when i get bogged down in long hours of mundane tasks like testing and writing support notes i must admit i’m back in that camp of too much work not enough life. so to me the trick seems to be having as much of your work be about stuff you love. if changing jobs or altering the way you work helps then maybe that’s a way forward?
Bkac in my mid 20s I worked at Telstra in the early days of the change from Telecom and the deregulation of the telecommunications industry. You could say that I had work-life balance then … I worked hard and played hard in equal parts. it may have benn a “balanced” life (as in equal) but it certainly wasn’t sustainable (maybe that’s another post on sustainability for Marc to do).
To me a balanced life is a sustainable one - one where I can enjoy all the parts that allow me to be the best me in the most sustainable way.
[...] Balancing Act The start of the month always means a brand new issue of online magazine, The Calm Space. This month the theme is Balance. There are some really gritty articles, as well as fun ones, about Balance, how to define it and how to get it. Many thanks to the many readers, who helped with research for my article on Work-Life Balance. [...]
As much as God may laugh when he hears you’re making plans I have learnt you need to plan to have ‘fun’ as much as you do everything else even and if only as an attempt to make it happen.
Now excuse me while I go make a plan to find a peice of string strong enough for 5 elephants…:):)
@ Marc - you are so right that doing what you love helps you feel more balanced
@ Leah - ahh the folly of youth. Isn’t it great to have some experience and wisdom to sustain us?
@ Marjorie - strong string last seen deep within
Have fun planning to have fun.
Hmm
Planning to have fun. Bizarre as it seems that makes sense to me. It’s certainly one of the things I get couples to do when I’m working with them.
In a busy life, we might even need to plan to make love.
Angela I’ve never heard this song! But i do agree with Marj you DO have to plan. It’s about the only thing that will get you close to even the illusion of some sense of balance. Otherwise you just end up swamped in overwhelm too paralysed to get out!
I’ll sing the song for you some time, Chris. I love your idea of couples planning their fun. Otherwise the days can get mired in day to day existence and survival.
i have to apologise because i’m not writing to contribute to the discussion you have going on, i stumbled across the website whilst browsing pictures and i just wondered where the elephant picture was from? i run a card-making business and would love to use the image in my designs so i’m just wondering if you can tell me what, if any, copyright there is on the picture?
again, sorry to go off on such a tangent!
Hi Bev,
We sourced this photo from http://www.istockphoto.com so there is definitely copyright on the picture. I’ve sent you the link to the picture by email.
Good luck with your card making business! We hope you visit us again soon…