What is Work-Life Balance? What is Success?

Bit of a tricky subject here but Work-Life balance and Success are often thought of and loosely defined.


Something that gave me relief was clearly defining what both these things meant to me and making sure my expectations aligned with those of my employer.


FOR ME: Work-Life balance is the ability to know when it is go time and being fully present for the tasks/job you have at hand and not being distracted by the outside world. Then when it's time to go into personal life shutting off the work side and focusing on that and again being fully present in it.


SUCCESS: The ability to provide what is needed for my family to have all the basic human needs taken care of and then spoil the 2 kids from time to time. (Wife is already spoiled and has everything). If I can come home and be greeted by the excited DADDY!!!(From the kids) thats a successful day.


Would love for everyone to share below.


Title

๐Ÿ™ Mental Wellness
๐Ÿ„ Personal Life
16
CuriousFox
WR Officer
4
๐ŸฆŠ
I find when I marathon work, I get tired, and I make stupid mistakes. Calendar reminders to take breaks help me personally.
Sunbunny31
Politicker
2
Sr Sales Executive ๐Ÿฐ
Oh amen to that. Definitely breaks are essential.
I do find I'm sharper when I'm busy - but not overwhelmed.
Space_Ghost20
Valued Contributor
3
Account Executive
I think your understanding of work-life balance is largely what mine is. I've never had any problem coming in early/working late, or putting in some extra hours when needed, but it's not an open-ended arrangement. I'm not answering emails or Slack messages at 9 pm unless you gave me a heads up to expect something.
Success for me is getting to a place where I can choose to accept an employment offer only if I truly believe in the company, it's product, it's leadership, etc. and not because I need the income. I have specific financial goals of course, but they all kinda fit under that larger umbrella.
Diablo
Politicker
3
Sr. AE
I work from home - for me WLB is all about having more flexibility example I have a meeting in the morning and then some spare time, I hit my kitchen to cook lunch and vice versa also stretch after the working hours if needed.
FinanceEngineer
Politicker
2
Sr Director, sales and partnerships
I work from home most days when Iโ€™m not at a customer or conference. I think you hit the right balance. Just have to be there for the family, and little else matters.
Justatitle
Big Shot
1
Account Executive
Amazing the perspective that family adds to your life.
TennisandSales
Politicker
2
Head Of Sales
for me:Work life balance: i am able to do everything I need to do at work to do a good job, and im able to do everything I need to do at home to be a good dad/spouse. There are not time constraints on that. If i work 80 hrs a week and can legit check both those boxes then great! if it needs to be less then great!

success:- we can do all the things we WANT to do. not just NEED to do,- doing work that i am excited about and I dont feel like im wasting my time.- relationships with my kids and wife are strong

This is probably the simplest way to put it.
Sunbunny31
Politicker
2
Sr Sales Executive ๐Ÿฐ
I think you nailed it. My success at work directly translates into things that I get to provide for my family that would otherwise be impossible or a struggle.
I enjoy what I do, usually, so when sacrifices need to be made, it's usually ok. I've missed out on a few things with my kids, but largely have been able to work things out. I'm not averse to extra work when it makes sense or is necessary to get the job done, but I don't work for work's sake.
GDO
Politicker
1
BDM
I'm pretty close. For me it means family is always first. I want to work hard to provide. However if somethings up with them i do not care abnout work at all. Also I would love to retire early as well :D
Mendizo
Opinionated
1
Sr. Director
For me, Sales is probably one of the best jobs for work/life balance, assuming you don't have some idiotic leadership.
If we really look at our book as our own business, and we are the entrepreneurs, then work/life balance is wholly within our control. Just like opening up your own business, you get out what you put in. Obviously this is simplifying it a lot, but that is what I feel. Week over week, the time I spend 'at' work and 'outside' of work varies greatly... but that's a good thing, because I do what I need to in order to help my team (and in turn myself) succeed. Furthermore, I find my space (that I sell into) fascinating irrespective of my job; even when I was on sabbatical, I was still doing research on trends, companies, etc. because I'm just personally curious about it. So 'work' and 'life' blend a bit, and that's how I like it. At the end of the day, I think having that autonomy is a big part of it; if we're told to do something, we immediately don't like it; but if we're given the independence, we'll do the same thing gladly if it helps us achieve our goals.
FoodForSales
Politicker
0
AE
I work my 40/week and that's about it.
5

What your sales manager really means when they preach about work life balance

Discussion
6
8

Parent/Sales Life Balance

Discussion
10
6

What do you call a perfect work life balance?

Question
8
Work life balance - how's it defined as per you?
37% Work on weekdays and relax weekends
47% Work and relax as you feel on the go
5% Fixed work timings
11% Don't care about it much
38 people voted