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Running Head: MEMO 0

Memo

Name

Institution

To: Mary Lee, Life Coach

From:

Date:

Re: Balancing between professional and personal life

In the last several months, I have been having issues balancing my personal and professional life. I have been working most of the time during the day and sometimes it extends into the night. By the time I am done I am usually very tired and in need of some good sleep. The sequence has been repeating itself and I find that I have not been able to spend time with my family and friends. In fact, I hardly have time for myself. This has been so exhausting and I feel like I am drowning from its weight. This is not a personal problem as I am aware that many other people are going through the same thing. However, the degree to which we are affected by this problem varies from one person to the other. As a life coach, you understand my problem well and what I should do about it. I believe that this problem can be solved by planning carefully and being prepared always.

Work-life balance is a real struggle and this is brought about by various causes. There are so many demands both at work and at home. There are deadlines to meet, meetings to attend, and family to accommodate. All these for one person and it becomes very difficult. Although I try to evaluate what I have to gain from whatever I do and if the price is worth paying, it is not easy to say no to these demands. Sometimes one just falls sick but they cannot call in sick because of the insecurities at the workplace. At this time I become unproductive but I still have to do my best and even though I try to accept the situation in order to ensure that I hold my energy, sometimes I just lose it (Dumas and Sanchez-Burks, 2015).

Some of my relationships are quite unsupportive. Family members and friends are always complaining that I hardly have any time for them. I feel so guilty whenever someone says this to me. Despite working so hard at work, I hardly have someone appreciate me or tell me that I have done a good job. Nobody seems to care about all the sacrifices I make. There are a lot of expectations to meet and communication to do and to think that people would understand my situation feels like I am asking too much from them (Agarwal and Lenka, 2015).

My babysitter quit a month ago and things have turned from bad to worse ever since. I have not been able to get a replacement and I have to take the baby to a care center which also consumes a lot of time. I think I have been so overwhelmed by issues that it is even difficult to think of a simple solution to a problem. Even a small problem turns out to be a very big issue and I have been trying to meditate but I always get distracted. I feel like meditation time is just a waste of a good time (Agarwal and Lenka, 2015).

I have issues with confidence and I am not very good at communicating. This has made me not be able to talk to my bosses at work or friends about the crisis that I am going through. I understand that a problem shared is half –solved but I have been having this doubt about whether anyone will understand. I would not want anyone to think that I am exaggerating. This has left me so stressed and the fact that I try to stay busy to avoid this stress only makes the situation worse (Dumas and Sanchez-Burks, 2015).

Today's working has become so demanding and although they say that work and personal life are supposed to be complements of each other, this is proving easy said than done. Work is eating up most of our time and this leaves us with very little time to spend with families and friends. The expectations of families and friends are massive and most of the time we cannot meet all of them. This is not to say that we are not trying. There is so much trying but often we are overwhelmed. The frustrations that come with realizing that we cannot achieve this balance are even worse; we end up blaming ourselves and being withdrawn from the people we love because we feel that they will not understand.

However, it seems that all hope is not lost. Companies are beginning to become aware of this pressure and they are making efforts to help employees balance work and personal life. The main aim of this is not only to make the employees happy but also more productive. This is because balancing between work and personal life is so exhausting that it has been noted to cause a significant reduction in the productivity of employees. Employees are now being allowed to have more free time because working overtime is being scrapped off by many companies. Companies are also trying as much as possible not to exert unnecessary pressure on the employees. It is now upon the employees to do their part to ensure that they achieve a healthy balance between their work and their personal lives (Zheng et al, 2016).

Proper planning and preparation is a great solution for this. As employees with a lot of duties to attend to it is always good to ensure that we manage our time well. This can be done by knowing when to work and when to play. It is always good to draw the line between home and work in order to ensure a healthy transition between the two lives. Setting priorities and sticking by the order will always ensure that we do not have misplaced priorities. Also, having a schedule and sticking by it is just as healthy. Procrastination is a thief of time and if we learned to get things done without waiting to rush the last minute we could achieve a lot. Eliminating disturbance and focusing only on what is important will enhance creativity (Zheng et al, 2016).

The other thing we need to learn to do is to mark our boundaries; identify the common crossovers between personal and professional life and only make those crossovers when necessary. Be mindful of health because as much as working is important, your health is just as important. We could also protect our passion by treating ourselves to a break once in a while. It is important to learn to say no and although it may sound rude, you may realize just how much it can save you. Cut off all things that are not important (Dumas and Sanchez-Burks, 2015).

Social media is a great invention but the fact that it can sometimes be problematic is something that we cannot dispute. Learning how to handle your social media is a perfect score. If possible, have different accounts for your personal and professional lives. Be clear and draw lines on how you handle personal and professional data. Have a schedule for being active online and stick by it. This way you can avoid being a victim of social media eating up most of your important time (Zheng et al, 2016).

Working from home is a good option to achieve a balance between personal life and work but it is unfortunately not always an easy course. To be able to successfully work from home, set your time well, and work for hours that are realistic and do not let your work hours eat up your personal life. Dressing for work even when you are working from home will help you achieve a successful transition from home to work. Take breaks as if you were at work. you do not have to work throughout just because you are working from home; health is important. Avoid getting distracted by house tasks and remember to reward yourself at the end of the day (Zheng et al, 2016).

Balancing childcare with work is the most important yet difficult skill anyone could learn. Having a more flexible schedule will help you a great deal as a parent. Consider other childcare options like someone looking after your children while you work. When working from home, find something to entertain your children to prevent them from distracting you. Consider being in the same room with the kids so you can monitor them closely (Agarwal and Lenka, 2015).

Balancing between work and personal life is a challenge that most employees face. this is caused by the many demands and expectations both at work and at home. People try a lot to achieve this balance but it is not always easy. All hope is however not lost since most companies are assisting employees to achieve this balance. Employees, on the other hand, can achieve this balance by proper planning of their time and always being prepared. Time management, creating boundaries and sticking to them, working from home, balancing childcare with work, and learning how to handle social media are some of the ways that can help us as employees to achieve a balance between personal and professional life.

References

Agarwal, S., & Lenka, U. (2015). Study on work-life balance of women entrepreneurs–review and research agenda. Industrial and Commercial Training. Retrieved from https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ICT-01-2015-0006/full/html?journalCode=ict

Dumas, T. L., & Sanchez-Burks, J. (2015). The professional, the personal, and the ideal worker: Pressures and objectives shaping the boundary between life domains. The Academy of Management Annals, 9(1), 803-843. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19416520.2015.1028810

Zheng, C., Kashi, K., Fan, D., Molineux, J., & Ee, M. S. (2016). Impact of individual coping strategies and organisational work–life balance programmes on Australian employee well-being. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 27(5), 501-526. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09585192.2015.1020447