When working at organizations over the years my expertise has always fallen into the advanced technical role. When working for organizations that have expectations of system availability around the clock it is easy to lose sight of what it means to maintain work-life balance. Always being available to team-mates for your areas of expertise is where the work-life balance can break down. Even when documentation exists it seems that teams rely heavily on each other allowing for them to reach out any time of day. Also doing system maintenance, patching and other testing off hours it would seem one would always be working
So is work-life balance achievable in a tech role with 24×7 demands?
To first answer this question, yes! However, you may have to work a little bit harder to make sure you do. So what can YOU do to achieve a balance that meets your own health needs, and family demands while still doing an amazing job supporting your organization?
Make time for you!
First and foremost, make time for yourself. For some this may be even more challenging if family demands are a factor, but it is so important to be able to channel your energy into something that provides you some level of stress release. Of course we all enjoy different things, so just find the thing that allows YOU to recharge. This activity or these activities can take anywhere from 5 minutes or more every day, but be sure to take this type of break every day.
Make time for your family and/or friends
There is nothing better than a good laugh, or spending time with someone to alleviate that stress. Call someone in your family, and talk or make plans today!
Local Community Involvement
Giving back to your local community is such an important part of finding balance in your life. There are so many issues and problems to be solved from hunger, to homeless pets, vandalism, abuse, and more. Connecting with your community provides rewards for both you and those you help. Also taking your mind off the office a little bit this can provide great stress relief.
Get enough Rest
If you are not getting enough rest/sleep you will eventually burn out. Rest goes along way for fueling the thought process and starting each day with a fresh mind.
Need Something New?
If you are still not feeling your best, and enjoying what you do then it may be time for a change. Depending on your interests that can mean many things, and that is the wonderful thing about IT. There are so many different technological ways to be involved it can be easy to change what you do, but still remain involved in technology.
Final thoughts
No matter what work-life balance means to you, find something that will allow you to destress before or after your busy workday. There is unbelievable value that comes from the ability to collect your thoughts each day as you dive into your amazing technology focus role for the 24×7 enterprise.