Friday, February 19, 2010

Do you have a healthy work/life balance?

Earlier this evening I returned from New York City where I had spent the day in a team meeting.  Sitting in the conference room and seeing all of our accomplishments spelled out made me realize just how busy my entire team has been and will remain through our fiscal year.

I believe that I am better than most of my peers at disengaging and finding what I like to think is a healthy work/life balance.  As many of my blog entries indicate, I make the most of my vacation and leave very few days each year to carry from one calendar year to another.  However, I think that I am an atypical American in this way.  It seems to me that many of us either hoarde our vacation time or find it hard to  make the most of our time outside of the office. I have to wonder why Americans in particular seem to "work to live" rather than "live to work".  For many, I realize financially there may be few options and during an economic downturn I am definitely the exception (having planned a large and fairly extravagent vacation like last year's trip to Australia).  However, I think that it is important to get away and disengage.  When you think back over the past year - do you think you have a healthy work/life balance?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think I do have a good balance. On the weekends or while on vacation, I rarely think of work, and I never have trouble coming up with things to do outside the office. I try and space out my vacation days in order to have regular breaks, but I often can't really get out of town as much as I'd like. But a day off in town is better than nothing! I always try and take in a museum, hike or movie--something to change the scenery. I once had a boss who never took any days off, or when she did, she was rumored to check email and messages while on vacation.

And kudos for you for taking vacations. This is the only life we have, and we'd better enjoy it while we can!