I wrestle with this matter a lot!

I spend a great deal of thinking time battling with the concept of balancing my work alongside my personal time.

For many years now I have structured my routines, systems and technology and schedule to create separation of these two parts of my daily and weekly routines and for years I thought this was the answer.

Then, with my recent health challenges and long recovery, I also had lots of work related indicators as to why I should limit the time I do work.

But the real reason for the major health impacts was not how much I worked but it was all about how I dealt with the related stress and sometimes anxiety that came with it.

My other posts also identify the importance of healthy eating and exercise I realize but for me, it is the impact of stress that is the killer and the cause of my heart condition and subsequent surgery.

So why am I writing this now?

I am debating work life balance now for a few reasons.

I am busy!

In my professional life, my workload has increased significantly following a number of major project wins. I also have a separate venture in play which uses many of my professional skills and my project management experience, and it too is picking up new work. In my personal life, I am also building a new house this year and that too needs my architect oversight and management.

So with all those demands on my time, my battle is not how to do the work but when.

My core working week is often consumed with client and project team meetings and that then only leaves the conventional personal time. Add to that my desire to have separation in the interests of work life balance, then all that happens is that I don’t get through the tasks I have set myself…

And then, despite all the efforts to bring balance, all that happens is that stress starts to creep back in but now it’s not the work but the not being able to do the work that’s giving me the anxiety.

So I am going to try another adjustment

I am going to give myself permission to blur those old boundaries and if I am under pressure and also feel inclined, I am going to let myself knock off a few of those delayed tasks or overdue actions and with that let go of some of that personally imposed pressure.

Well, let’s see how it goes in any case.