By LesValene Ngion

Working longer hours and E-mail make it hard to balance the demands on your time, particularly if you have family commitments. But having a meaningful career doesn't mean sacrificing your personal life either. Achieving work-life balance isn't that difficult.

The recent decade's economic and environment upheavals - like the 1997 Asian financial crisis, 2003 SARS, 2006 Tsunami, and 2009 Global credit crunch - have changed and impacted companies' and individuals' attitudes and perspectives of work and life.

The talk about work-life balance probably surfaced as early as the 1970s and Singapore firms were introduced to the phrase in the late 1990s when the Health Promotion Board and Ministry of Manpower began to help and support organisations in work-life strategies, programmes, and funding.

People are faced with the ongoing saga of unpredictable changes and uncertainties of tomorrow. As job scopes are expanded as a result of downsizing or retrenchments, people with jobs have to be prudent to meet immediate needs. So in the midst of keeping a job regardless of whatever it takes - is there a need for work-life balance?

In preparing for the upswing and ramping up for tomorrow, there will be renewed demands for speed and accuracy with multiple deadlines to meet. Will earning as much as possible before the next downturn be on the agenda or will having work-life balance still be a valid concern?

A recent SIM Management Monitor survey on management attitudes and sentiments has identified three key issues faced by managers/leaders as shown in Figure1. Is work-life balance achievable as many have to deal with these issues continuously in good or bad times.

One way to view the answer is to relate it to what Albert Einstein said: 'Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.'

While cycling, if the cyclist's body weight is unevenly distributed on either side, balance is lost and the cyclist will fall. If the weight is evenly distributed, even when maneuvering a bend, balance can be maintained. Alternatively, learner cyclists can be supported by learner's wheels and falls are minimised.

This applies to work-life balance as well. The crux of work-life balance lies with time in two major areas; Work Time and Personal Time. It can be achieved during downturn or upswing because it is not solely dictated by what cannot be controlled like the current economic climate.

What gets prioritised into Work Time and Personal Time must be balanced. When too much goes into one area, the balance is off and this is what causes issues.

These are choices that are largely controllable and require a conscious effort to evaluate and maintain continuously to achieve balance. Let's look at what they are and how we can achieve work-life balance.

Work Time refers to time spent on work done that generates an income such as a regular job, a freelance engagement, an online business, and so on. Personal Time is time spent alone or with others that may or may not generate any work or income. These include time spent on activities like reading, the family vacation, hobbies, and so on.

Interestingly, in the SIM survey, the top priorities of managers/leaders show managers recognise the fact that without good health, they will not have the stamina to deal with the key issues. Several other studies have shown that ensuring good work-life balance has a direct correlation to better work performance and well being.

There are several ways to get your life attuned to work-life balance. The following five step plan works well.

Step 1: Get Real

The first step to work-life balance is to get 'real'. Using a simple SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis, conduct a personal audit of your work-life. Make a list of Work Time and Personal Time needs. Quantify and qualify how much Work Time and Personal Time are required. Assess where the balances and gaps are with the current work time, personal time, and lifestyle commitments.

Step 2: Purpose Driven

Reflect and analyse what values and purposes drive the need for your work-life balance.

List some three to five items and focus on them. These are very critical and often not at the top of our minds when work-life is out of balance. Frustration and stress will result when these values and purposes are not met. They are signals that all is not right but remember that perseverance is needed to keep the balance.

Step 3: Goal Oriented

Setting attainable goals keeps us focused and goals are seen as an end result of perseverance. Keep to a few achievable goals and not be overly ambitious. Discuss these goals with people whose support is required or will be impacted by the choices made.

Write down the goals and save them in your PDA or electronic appointment calendar 'to do' list to receive reminders about them weekly.

Step 4: Adaptability

Work-life balance requires conscious effort and determination. There are times to say 'No' without having to feel guilty about it.

There are also times to compromise and make sacrifices to achieve the set goals. Work- life balance will call for changes to one's lifestyle. Accept the need to change and be adaptable if work-life balance is to become a long term goal. Relook Step 2 if adaptability becomes a struggle.

Step 5: Evaluation

Working through these steps is just one way to realise work-life balance. Sustaining it is a greater challenge because it takes a continuous process of evaluation. At different stages of career and personal life, work-life balance needs are different.

Starting afresh at Step 1 when embarking on major decisions affecting career and personal life can help to attune work-life balance needs. Setting aside time for self reflection to evaluate the journey of arriving at the set goals is an achievement in itself.

Work-life balance is achievable and it is a journey of choices, focus, and conscious evaluation to adapt and keep moving. The presence and support of others is important when investment in work and personal time are set aside.

Article is contributed by Ms LesValene Ngion who is director product development at SIM Professional Development