Are you well balanced?

For some odd reasons, I suddenly thought about the concept of work life balance and it reminded me of a blog entry written by my friend a while ago titled: Work, Life, Balance and More Work? I am personally a supporter of work life balance. As mentioned in the article attached, people tend to be questioned when leaving on time (well, early to some) but honestly, it is not a competition or what I like to call survival of the "latest." Get your things done and leave! Getting your tasks done and leaving on time does not translate to anything negative, it can be viewed as being efficient, productive and performing beyond expectations (terms to be used during your quarterly review). Of course there are occasions whereby you have to work OT to get certain projects done but on a all year round basis? Maybe that is the case for you but I still believe that the lack of work / life balance often results in the decreased productivity.

I do understand that the need to perform OT has more or less become part of the working culture in Hong Kong especially during tough economic times. However, no matter what the reasons are, try to give yourself a little break once in a while to think about how you want to achieve a work life balance. No one is suggesting that it is an easy task but do give it a try. What I like to do sometimes is to find a quiet place (on a best effort basis especially in Hong Kong) and just relax.