Yesterday I received a very exciting call from a company I interviewed with two weeks ago. They are going to send me a formal offer for a summer internship! I’m very excited about this opportunity and to see more of the details so I can decide if it would be a good fit for me this summer. While I believe this could be a great experience, I also know that the demands of the job would be more than my usual summer part-time job. This got me thinking about our topic for this week, work-life balance. Whether it be a job, an internship, or your role as a student, work-life balance is extremely important and directly impacts our mental and emotional well-being.
You may be used to hearing about this concept, it’s not a new idea. However, we commonly think about work-life balance as being able to balance out two separate spheres of our lives: work and play. But, as online education platform Coursera explains, these two spheres are often more intertwined than we may think. So, how does this affect our pursuit of the so-called work-life balance?
The answer is a newly developing concept called work-life integration. Coursera defines the concept as, “the synergistic blending of our personal and professional responsibilities.” Here’s a visual way to consider the topic: the work-life balance model represents two distinct sides of your life that compete with one another for space. In contrast, the work-life integration model can be represented as a Venn diagram, in which work is simply one aspect of your life that we consider evenly with other important areas of our lives.
It is important to note that the work-life balance model still has some advantages over the work-life integration model. For instance, if you’re someone who struggles with feeling like work or school or whatever it is creeping into your personal life, it may be helpful to use the work-life balance model ideology where there is a clear divide between the two areas. While work-life integration can provide you with a more holistic framework for managing the different aspects of your life, it ultimately depends on your needs.
One of the first steps to take in improving your work-balance or integration (again, you must decide which ideology is best for you) is to assess your priorities. It’s helpful to ask yourself questions like:
- What do I find enjoyment in? Do I need to be making more time for this?
- Do you need to make compromises? If so, where can you make compromises?
- Have you been making too many compromises?
These questions should help you understand what your priorities are and from this you can start taking action to get closer to your desired lifestyle. Everyone is different, but asking yourself these questions can help you better understand what’s important to you and choosing the best mental framework for you can help you spend more time on what’s important to you.
Until next time,
Avi
Sources:
Work-Life Balance: What It Is and 5 Ways to Improve Yours | Coursera
Congratulations on your internship offer. That is very exciting to hear and I’m sure it will go great in the summer and provide a great experience for you. One of the major questions that comes up for college students is the work life balance because we get dragged down by school but also run the risk of “living” too much. Having a balance of the two is key. I like how you gave the audience questions to ask themselves regarding their work life balance. It is important to look at the integration aspect of work and life because they do not exist in separate and often the aspects of work carry over into life and vice versa. I think that the importance is to create a boundary between work and life and make sure that both areas are respected at all times. Overall, great work and I hope this helps us college kids find that needed work life balance and your internship goes well.