Work life balance & influence of personality

Work life balance is an important part of lives and also a difficult aspect to achieve. With pandemic situation and everyone having to work from the desk within their homes, attaining work life balance has been more difficult than ever. But is striking a balance between professional and personal life entirely dependent on the nature of one’s job? Well, the experts think otherwise. Researchers and experts in the field of work culture believe that work life balance has to do a lot more and is affected more by one’s personality rather than the job nature.

However, there definitely are some professionals who have the most bizarre work life balance, often an almost absence of it, like surgeons who have to be on call for as long as 16 hours straight. But in other scenarios when it is highly tricky for someone to achieve work life balance, it has to do a lot with one’s personality.

There are two types of people – Segmentors and Integrators.

Segmentors are the ones able to clearly distinguish and separate their professional and work lives. The habit of keeping both the sections of their life as separate entities is a basic essence of their nature.

Integrators, on the other hand, usually struggle with keeping the work and life separate. Their mind is wandering around personal things while doing office work and is thinking about professional work during personal hours.

Segmentors can, therefore, work for over 40 hours in a week and still feel that they have the perfect work life balance. That is because they are able to concentrate on work and life separately. Integrators, however, may not even work for 40 hours in a week and find their work life balance off the hook. That’s because even though they continue to work, they are not able to focus on the specific task and often feel detached from their families and personal life.

It's hard to find work-life balance when you're at the top of the org chart. With thoughtful planning and a commitment to your own resilience, though, it's very possible. https://t.co/eog1hm1PfI

— Harvard Business Review (@HarvardBiz) November 6, 2020

So, how can Integrators focus more on the specific work they are performing and attain a better work-life balance? Some hacks and tricks can be beneficial to this group of people.

• While off the working hours, engaging in activities that keep the mind off work related stuff can be helpful. Outdoor activities like walking, trekking can be such activities.
• Avoid activities that remind of work during personal hours. Keep the phone away and don’t access the emails.
• Keep the pone messenger and email ringer turned off.
• Be organized – making a to-do list can be the game changer.
• Set the work hours and be strict about it.

Integrator or Segmentor, work life balance is attainable for everyone with the right set of tricks and habits that can do the trick for you specifically.