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I don’t like work… but I like what is in work — the chance to find yourself. Your own reality — for yourself, not for others — which no other man can ever know.
- Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) British novelist.



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I’m a staunch believer of simplistic life for inner peace and eternal happiness. Last week I had an article on simplicity that discussed about those of us who have at some point been work binge by sacrificing everything else that gives life a purpose and meaning. Our life actually become an obsession of imprisonment between four walls that act as a mirage of happiness with the pursuit of endless goals that never gives us lasting inner peace.

One of the readers who also is a successful broadcast professional for the NBC, Raleigh asked a very profound question, “I love the less working reference. However, you made me want more! I have a special request…please write a post on this subject. I look forward to your insight!!”

I’m compelled to expound on what I consider less working. It does not mean that somehow we escape the work that we are engaged in, it simply means that if we develop consciousness towards how we spend our time at work by reorganizing our work preferences and by cutting out non essential tasks including vice habits that waste our time, we can learn to create leisure time to spend with family and time for our own inner enrichment.

What makes us workaholic?

Workaholic is our outer response to the lack of inner nurturing. We all have had feeling when we walked in the building that we have escaped all of our problems and by sinking our focus on work, we become the victim of the fallacy that other problems in our life will go away. Now life sometimes demands more work from us as we may have to work for our needs. That is starkly different than our thirst for the work as an obsession. If you work to abandon your inner self, you are a workaholic deprived of inner nurturing to stumble upon the source of fulfilling life. You are simply trying to find happiness,  in an external solution of working constantly. You desperately need a pathway to get rid of this habit of over work.

Excess of work often leads to an excess in overeating and drinking or overspending in the leisure time. It becomes a state of mind to abscond with inner turmoil.

I used to work as an engineer and owned hotels as well. For five years, all I knew was to work and run business without a break. Soon, I realized that my life was complex, stressful and lack inner peace due to a false imagination to chase wealth. After the revelation, I’ve been mindful and working constantly on simplifying my work life. I have quit my job and working solely on the hotels that I own.

Employ thy time well, if thou meanest to gain leisure.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist and philosopher.

What can I do to achieve a balance in my life for the inner peace and happiness?

The essential pain of achieving work-life balance lies in taking risk to identifying tasks that once gave social acceptance but are not important. Often the stigma of cowardice prevents us from achieving this balance to please our inner self than to please others.

In last few years, I have made a conscious effort to achieve this balance. I’ve failed many times in developing a burning desire until last year. Less work is akin to frugality in spending. Valuing time as the most precious asset constantly and visualizing leisure time that can bring a happy, fulfilling life shaped my resolve to achieve the work-life balance.

Analyze the current state of work life:

As with spending of money, spending of time or life resources require introspecting a day of work in detail by all the tasks or activities that consume our time. I identified several tasks that were time vampires. With careful circumspection, I set limit or cut out those tasks including friends calling for advice or web surfing.

Make a habit to set limit:

There are things I like to do due to compulsive desire or may be to find happiness in external solutions of social acceptance, recognition and so forth. I’ve learned that controlling mind from wandering on thoughts of excessive focus to do certain tasks is a mind hack that’s essential in bringing work-life balance. It’s difficult but certainly achievable. What I’ve done is to visualize the happiness that I get by creating leisure time for myself and my family.

Eliminate work vices:

After identifying tasks that are essential in my mind, I’ve learned to eliminate non essential tasks similar to other clutters in my life. It takes courage sometimes to throw away that magazine thinking, “I like the cover page, I need to read it some day”. It also takes courage to eliminate those tasks that flatter our mind with blemish desire to seek happiness at the expense of needed leisure time with family.

Checking in and work-life journal:

Best of our intentions die horrible death without a commitment to stick to the habits of work-life balance. Let’s face it, we get swept in the euphoria of achieving professional accolades or wealth to compromise our time for the family or for our own inner, spiritual growth. I have clearly stated my goals of achieving balance and shared that with my wife. I seek her counsel in introspecting my work day to identify if I’ve been deviating from my goal of working on essential tasks only and to keep proper perspective about what’s important to both of us in our long relationship. I also have a journal that captures the honest account of what happened during the day and sets the stage for the day to come so that I focus only on working less yet effectively to free up more leisure time with my wife and daughters.

Many of us have felt the guilt of throwing ourselves in the cubicle that created a flaunting sense of earning false pride from coworkers and friends. In nutshell, it is an escape from our desire to seek better health and happiness that comes from within. It takes discipline, openness to discuss your goals with your boss in terms of achieving work-life balance but in the long run it’s all the more worth going though the stigma once and for all to work less yet work effectively to free up leisure time that’s invaluable.

We give up leisure in order that we may have leisure, just as we go to war in order that we may have peace.
- Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC) Greek philosopher.

Photo courtesy of Absolutely-nothing


To Your Success,