Work/life balance: A dream or technological reality?
If your life feels like all work and no play, maybe it’s time to think about how you could achieve a better work life balance. Taking up a new hobby or craft could be just what you need.
Whether it’s learning a foreign language, extreme knitting or just spending time with the kids, we should all have interests outside of our work responsibilities - the problem is finding the time to do so...
New research released this week by Hotmail reveals that 4 in 5 (80%) Brits are re-assessing their lives to make time for the important things like family and friends, rather than work and the office. However, 65% say they would need to find at least 17 day’s worth of extra time every year to do the things that are important to them.
Making time
Recent advances in how we access and use the internet mean people are now managing their lives differently, freeing up time for ‘me and my family’. Hotmail has identified this emerging mindset as ‘the New Busy’. The research also reveals almost half of the nation can’t live without the internet to manage their lives, using it in the office, on the go and at home to ensure they use every second of their time effectively.
Never enough hours in the day?
If Brits were able to find the time, a third would take the opportunity to get away from it all and enjoy the countryside with their nearest and dearest, whilst 20% would devote more time to their kids.
It's my life!
But it’s not just all about family and friends there is also strong desire to explore their creative flair. Nearly 1 in 3 (29%) want to spend new found time honing their fashion skills learning how to make their own clothes, while a quarter (25%) say they would like to take up a martial art - and a spiritual one in ten were interested in the art of palm reading.
Technological development means we are no longer tied to our desks to access the information vital to our day-to-day work. When you can take your desk with you, the world is your work and play space and it is this sort of multitasking that defines “The New Busy”.