Juggling obligations associated with career and family can be daunting. Striking a balance between ensuring the success of your career to best provide for your family and actually having time to spend with your family can seem like a next to impossible task, according to "Working Families: Navigating the Demands and Delights of Marriage, Parenting and Career" by Joy Jordan-Lake. Nonetheless, you can use certain strategies to minimize some of the conflict between career and family obligations.
Considerations
At the heart of lessening the conflict between your career and family is establishing appropriate priorities, according to "Competing Devotions: Career and Family Among Women Executives" by Mary Blair-Loy. You must set career goals that not only meet the financial needs of your family but that permit you to be a part of the daily life of your family. In addition, you need to develop meaningful boundaries with your family that recognize their importance in your life but that allow you to pursue a career without unnecessary and inappropriate interference. For example, you may elect to forgo a promotion that requires you to spend more time away from your family. On the other hand, you must delineate specific time periods when working that family members cannot make contact with you in the absence of a true emergency.
Benefits
The benefits of eliminating conflict between career and family lessen personal stress in your own life. Moreover, accomplishing this objective permits your family members to more fully enjoy their lives. Finally, your work life becomes more productive, which enhances your relationships with professional colleagues.
Time Frame
Establishing a system that minimizes career versus family conflict is not something that develops overnight, according to Jordan-Lake. Family and career represent the two most complicated and time-consuming components of your life. Conflicts between the two likely did not develop overnight. Establishing and implementing useful solutions to eliminate these conflicts requires thoughtful deliberation and implementation.
Misconceptions
A prevailing misconception associated with the conflict between career and family is that you cannot maintain an appropriate balance between your home and work lives, according to the WomensMedia website. The reality is that through proactive scheduling and prioritizing your interests and needs, you are able to strike a meaningful balance between your career and family.
Warning
You are not the only person affected by the decisions made regarding career and family issues. Therefore, when you work to diminish conflict between these two aspects of your life, you need to consider and even obtain input from family members and work colleagues. You cannot effectively make decisions in isolation.
References
- WomensMedia: How to Balance Your Career and Family
- "Competing Devotions: Career and Family Among Women Executives"; Mary Blair-Loy; 2005
- "Working Families: Navigating the Demands and Delights of Marriage, Parenting and Career"; Joy Jordan-Lake; 2007
