Yes, just like you thought it was, the notion of work life balance IS a myth 
according to leadership and organizational psychologist Dr. Ann Perschel. Sixty percent of executives report working at least 50 hours per week, including the additional time they spend thinking about work, while 10% work more than 80 hours per week. This situation is even more intense for 92% of working women who go home after a full day of work and manage household and family responsibilities.
At a recent workshop titled “Finding Your Flow - Looking for Better Work Life Balance?” organized by Leading Women Mass, Dr. Perschel posed the question “So how do we cope?” According to her the answer is Flow, but Flow is better than mere coping. It’s about enjoying and finding meaning in what we do and doing what we enjoy and find meaningful. Flow refuels us.
Flow is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersedin what he or she is doing by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement,and success in the process of the activity. Proposed by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the positive psychology concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields. Colloquial terms for this or similar mental states include: to be on the ball, in the zone, or in the groove.From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Says Dr Perschel, “When flow happens you are in a state of harmony. All the gears are engaged and synchronized. Work is effortless. A trial lawyer who loves to compete and win is in the flow when she prepares her case. Her heart pumps faster. Ideas just pop. After working 12 hours she has plenty of energy to care for her two young sons. A landscaper is in the flow when she presses the dirt firmly around the flowers and the scent of damp earth fills her nostrils. She goes home dirty but joyous and ready to engage with her family. When an architect is in the flow the building seems to draw itself.”
At the interactive workshop Dr. Perschel made the participants recall a moment when they each felt in a state of Flow. Examples offered covered a range of activities including gardening, writing, cleaning, yoga. Participants left realizing they each had to discover for themselves how to identify their natural talents, the type of work they find most meaningful and the professional situations that fuel their passions and generate more energy.
Comments
Good article about "flow". I love every time things are flowing well for me - all feels right in my world :)
Unfortunately, many folks don't have jobs where they get to feel that "flow". I highly suggest that those folks then turn there attention to their time outside of work and focus on doing things they enjoy that give them that Flowin' Feelin' :)
You'll be surprised how a little Flow can send ripples of good things throughout the rest of your life.
LiveYour24.com - Helping people Find The Time to Create a Life they LOVE
I believe a good approach to work life harmony is to generate what I call an Energy Management program that comprises a good flow of energy-burning and energy-generating pursuits. You can't deficit-budget time, but it's possible to deficit-budget mental energy. A few minutes a day can sustain energy for long periods of time, so long as those minutes are spent doing something that enjoyably expresses the real you for no other reason than it makes you feel good about yourself.
It not only keeps your energy levels up but it helps build quality of life. Go to www.workleisure.com for more
Nice article about Flow. We recently hosted Dr. Csikszentmihalyi and a number of organizational psychologists studying this issue for a one-day conference. They went into ways to use Positive Psychology in the workplace and many other settings, as well as how they are "measuring" happiness--fascinating stuff. The entire thing can be watched now on Claremont Graduate University's website. Hope you find it interesting!
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