Work life balance

Happiness at Work – 10 Tips from Professor Rao

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A friend shared a great book with me by Professor Rao – Happiness at Work.  I completely agree with the 10 tips Prof. Rao proposes in his book on how to achieve happiness at work.  Let’s face it – there is no perfect job out there.  So the key to happiness at work is NOT external circumstance or outcomes in a job.  Instead it’s about realizing that in any job, we need to know that we have the power to create our own experience no matter what happens at work. ...  read more

Are You Overworking? 4 Tips on How to Stop

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If you are overworking, you are not alone.  Here are some statistics on how hard Americans work today (see detailed infographics at the end of this post):

  • Over 75% of Americans work more than 40 hours a week, and about 10 million Americans work more than 60 hours a week.
  • 10% of worker take work home every other day, and 24% of workers think about work at home or at social events.
  • 1 in 3 American adults don’t take their vacation days.

Being overworked comes at a price to the employee and the company they work for – increased chances of disease, less time with family, disturbed sleep, more stress, and less productivity. ...  read more

Working from Home Sucks

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Lots of people love the idea of working from home.   With the daily 9-5 routine at a corporate cubicle, the luxury of working from home on your own business definitely represents “greener grass.”  Well, before you decide to do it, you may want to hear my story. This story will also apply to those who are “working” from home to look for a job. ...  read more

Annual Salary Needed to be Happy

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What annual salary do you need to be happy?  $1 million?  $200K? $100K+?.  Well the answer according to a wide range of research is even lower – around $40K to $75K a year.   Daniel Gilbert, professor of psychology at Harvard University, says once you have enough money to meet basic needs – food, shelter, but not necessarily cable —incremental increases have little effect on your happiness. ...  read more

The key is not thinking

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We are paid to think – literally.  Companies pay us thousand of dollars for our ability to think and solve problems.  So naturally our brain is wired to think, evaluate, compare, devise solutions.  It’s a blessing and a curse. I realize at times, I forget to turn off my brain and also think, analyze, and compare too much when it comes to life.  Life is to be experienced and enjoyed but not over-analyzed. ...  read more

Decide to Have a Good Day

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The last few weeks have been stressful.  I have been juggling five projects/initiatives at the same time on a 32 hours a week schedule. Unexpected project issues are coming up left and right; requirements are misunderstood; customer experience risks are newly uncovered, etc…

The end result is I have been taking my stress home after work.  Thinking about issues in the shower and waking up with solutions to yet another unexpected problem.  My daughter runs to greet me in the morning and sometimes I feel half there because I am already planning in my head how to tackle the day.  Some days I don’t even feel like going to work.  Does any of this sound familiar? ...  read more

Choose Life Over Work Now

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What is your reaction when you see this post title?  Is your response “of course, I have a very good work life balance”?  Or is your response “I wish I could, but I have to work a lot to make money, get ahead, take care of family.  I have to wait to enjoy life later.  What choice do I have”?  If you are more like the latter, this is a story for you. ...  read more