Managing the Pieces of Your Life: 3 Work-Life Balance Questions For Introverts in Healthcare
Life is like a mosaic.
Every piece counts.
The concept of work-life balance is often lauded AND ridiculed. On one hand, it's held up as the pinnacle of life mastery. On the other hand, it's derided as a mythical goal.
A medical career certainly lends itself to the risk of your balance becoming glaringly off-kilter.
As I see it, your experience doesn't exist as "work" on one side and "life" on the other. That gives work way too much weight. And isn't it all "life," anyway?
We are each unique, evolving beings on this planet. Your priorities may not be mine, and what you value today may become less significant as time passes.
Our lives are fluid and constantly morphing. Every decision we make shifts the balance and can potentially pivot us in a new direction.
Rather than thinking of our lives as a scale with "work" piled on one side and "life" on the other, the image of a mosaic may be more appropriate.
We can gather and rearrange all the tiny pieces to make a beautiful whole.
What is work-life balance, and why is it important?
No matter how much we enjoy, revere, or value something (or someone), we can never achieve everlasting joy from a singular focus.
This happens for a couple of reasons.
First, as complex human beings, our interests, needs, and priorities shift over time. They can never be satisfied by just one aspect of our lives.
Studies have shown that giving too much weight to a single area of life can lead to increased stress, health and relationship issues, and a decreased overall quality of life. Allowing ourselves to experience the full spectrum of our being has been shown to increase life satisfaction.
Ultimately, if we solely place the responsibility for our happiness on one aspect of our world, we'll almost always be disappointed.
Second, we need variety and growth to avoid stagnation.
We can understand this phenomenon through a concept known as the hedonic treadmill, or hedonic adaptation. This model describes our tendency to have a baseline level of contentment throughout the course of our lives, some of which is determined by our natural temperament.
Sure, we might gain pleasure from a raise or a new position at work, but they become part of our new normal after a while. Once the novelty wears off, we're often left feeling much the same as before the brief blip of excitement.
Routine begets a regression back to our baseline.
When we intentionally value all domains of our lives, we create variety and depth in our emotions, thoughts, and experiences. It's this diversity that lets us counteract hedonic adaptation.
So, how exactly do we use the analogy of a mosaic to create balance in our lives?
We recognize how the "pieces" of our lives can be intentionally arranged in such a way as to create our own version of harmony and balance.
How The "Life Domains Wheel" Helps You Design Your Version of Work-Life Balance
You may be familiar with the Life Domains Wheel, also known as the Wheel of Life. It's an excellent tool for mapping out how you're experiencing your life right now.
It's often presented as a pie-like wheel with eight or more pieces containing life categories that allow you to assess your satisfaction in each area of life.
The problem?
Much of the time, the wheel illustrations are pre-populated with domain names, such as work, life, career, health, etc.
Right off the bat, you're squeezing yourself into categories created by someone else rather than honoring your unique situation.
Instead, ask yourself, "What areas of life feel most important for my well-being?"
For example, I would absolutely include a "Nature and Outdoors" category in my wheel. I've never encountered that category on a preprinted Life Domains Wheel diagram, but I consider it essential for my happiness and satisfaction.
Consider your situation. List 8-10 categories encompassing what a "whole" life looks like to you.
Once you've identified those categories, it's time to take an honest look at how much you're honoring your need for activities that fall into each category you listed.
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being total satisfaction, ask yourself how you would rate your life experience in each category.
It's important not to judge yourself here. This isn't a test. It's not a tool to compare yourself to others or put yourself down.
Awareness is the first step to creating change.
Assessing your satisfaction in each life domain may spark an awareness of the area, or areas, that could benefit from intentional nurturing.
Depending on your phase of life, one domain may take precedence over the other. That's OK. Your life is fluid and ever-changing. This exercise just gives us a snapshot in time.
After you've had a chance to take in this information, consider which domains you're happy with and those in which you'd like to increase your satisfaction score.
It's important to keep in mind that you don't have to be a "10" in every category. Expecting that of yourself is a set-up for frustration and disappointment.
Rather than constantly striving to be the best, consider how it would be to simply feel "better".
Once you've curiously explored the answers to these questions, you've created a map to start your journey toward greater life satisfaction and career wellness.
Life as a Mosaic
The Wheel of Life can be a powerful tool for creating awareness, but when it comes to discussing work-life balance, it's a bit too simplistic for my taste. It gives us a false sense that our lives consist of discrete categories.
Even worse, the visual can suggest that our wheel is dysfunctional if we haven't rated each category equally.
Using the analogy of a mosaic, we can recognize that each category consists of many parts, and each of those parts can fulfill needs across many categories.
Take this blog, for instance. Writing this blog feeds my need for creativity and expression while also letting me honor my desire to help others. On my Wheel of Life, it can easily fit into the categories of career, community, and personal growth.
Our lives aren't a series of well-delineated moments and experiences. Each blends into the next and influences what follows.
By letting all the pieces flow into and around each other, we're able to create harmony rather than striving for a precarious balancing act between life and work.
So, what are three work-life balance questions you should ask yourself if you're dissatisfied with your career?
"What areas of my life feel most important for my well-being?"
"How would I rate my life satisfaction in these areas?"
"In which areas of my life am I content, and in which areas do I seek change?"
By creating awareness, you've taken the first step toward getting what you want.
Are you ready to deep-dive into your needs and wants and discover how you can fit the pieces together in a way that serves you? Connect with me here.
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Charity is a physician burnout coach helping introverts in healthcare escape feelings of apathy, irritability, and resentment brought on by the increasing demands and decreasing rewards of medicine.
She uses her 20 years of experience in clinical medicine combined with coaching to help introverts discover ways to be diligent, thoughtful clinicians while prioritizing their needs and protecting their energy. She wants you to know you don’t have to feel guilty for wanting a thriving life inside and outside of medicine.