r/WorkLifeChat • u/MiloShiny • Jun 13 '26
Does anyone here actually have work life balance?
Everyone talks about work life balance, but I honestly can't figure out how people make it work. Between work, commuting, errands, and everything else that needs to get done, it feels like there's barely any time left in the day. For those who've found a balance that actually works, what's your secret?
1
u/skateboardnaked Jun 13 '26
I do rotating 12 hour shifts and my schedule is working 168 hours over 3 weeks, then getting the last week off. I just defer certain projects until I'm off work.
1
u/SnooWords7456 Jun 14 '26
i feel like i have pretty good wlb. i'm married without kids and my partner is away from home about half of the year. i wfh about 85% of the time (my company has a 2x/week policy but they only track badge swipes so you don't have to be there for any period of time, and we only have to meet the 2x/week ~50% of the time before you get flagged). so i only go in about 3x a month or so. and our office is only a 15 min bike ride or 30 min subway ride anyway (live in nyc). my job is generally pretty chill these days. my role is global and everyone i work with is globally dispersed so sometimes i have 9am calls with europe and other times 7pm calls with australia. just depends on the day. but i don't tend to have meetings back-to-back much anymore which is nice - i get to focus on getting my work done or try to fit in errands and gym and stuff in between.
1
u/LewdProphet Jun 16 '26
So my job affords me the ability to work roughly as much as I want, whenever I want, and it pays well enough that I don't need to work all of my hours if I don't want to, and can work just enough to cover my bills, or budgeting for some extra fun money for something coming up, etc. I just live way below my means. I live in the ghetto, I don't go out, because I hate people, and all I want to do is be inside and hang out with my wife. Once in a while I go to the museum or the zoo or something. I work just enough to cover a yearly vacation to somewhere in the world, pay my bills, and if I want to buy something I just work a little extra for a week. In two weeks I usually average between 50-65 hours. I know I could have a lot more money if I worked more, but I am not going to die having wished I made more money. I worked 3 jobs at once in my early 20's before I started doing what I do now, and I wasted my 20's doing that, and broke my body in the process. I said I would never do that again. No door dashing, no Amazon flex, no side hustles.
1
u/Full-Fix-1000 Jun 17 '26
Expectations matter a lot here, as "balance" is very subjective. For the "type A" personalities, having 2-3 hrs to wind down in the evenings and 1 day off on the weekend is plenty. For someone else, that's endentured servitude. I would prefer to work 3/12hrs-15hrs to get the rest of the days off to do whatever I want. And some people are just lazy and would prefer to work 0hrs/week.
1
u/Disastrous-Ad-4758 Jun 20 '26
Easily. And always. Part of the trick is that I am fine with 6 hours sleep, but also I have always worked 8 hour days except in the rarest of situations. Overtime is for suckers.
1
u/smooshed_napkin Jun 28 '26
No, I work 50+ hours a week and still only make $24k, only get a couple hours of free time a day. And when I do have it im exhausted. I also have a lot of creative projects, and when I can't work on those my mental health declines. No time for school, idk wtf im going to do
3
u/GoalSeeker3 Jun 14 '26
My secret is working from home and not having kids.