Work Life Goal Analytics

Work lifespan by far is the longest phase of our life cycle and its three faces Early, Work & retirement. Work life also remains as the biggest influencer of our overall life. The initial part of our life goes in its preparedness for the Work-life as this is the longest and most engaging in context to its complex ecosystem. The last of this is retirement that is often considered fearful due to fear of unknown, its change management implications and other lifestyle woes. These also compound people worries and often give them a sense of guilt, that retirement period could have been better, should they have managed their work-life balance and duly factored the needs of retirement whilst in the professional phase. In an average work life due to priorities therein, fewer can claim to do this balancing act.

It is, therefore, necessary to adopt personal, financial & work life goal setting as an essential approach to our lifelong planning. They serve as the guiding force to evaluate our milestones that we adjust or recalibrate across the circle of our life and its changing needs. However, do we all, in reality, plan or know how to envision what weight do we have to provide to each of these goals. Of course, we do keep changing these weights and their settings according to the individual situation at a given stage of our life. The moot point is, do we know How to measure them and make our decision based on its given weight?  We must know that any critical life-changing decision must take into account the particular weighting that we have provided for that goal. For instance, if in the early stage most prioritize Professional goal then, in that case, the weight will indeed be much higher than other personal or financial. Therefore a new job offer must be analyzed on that basis not just because it has the very high financial rating and vice versa. It is indeed a stark reality that we all know about the importance of work-life dynamics but often do not objectively allocate sufficient time to delve into details to manage this. How often we are confronted with confused mindsets to reach crucial work life-related decisions. I, therefore, recommend that people must use analytics to provide weightings to each of their goals.  

However, before we delve into analytics, we need to relook at the various components that comprise our work & personal life goals. When it comes to work or professional goals and its components such as Job contents, prospects, and overall job satisfaction, there is the need for sufficient bare minimum weight given within a range that may change at different stages of life 30’s, 40’s, 50’s. However, this must be not less than certain minimum of the overall weighing’s since work always remains the focal point of our lifetime. While it is important that this should be fully aligned to almost similar weight on bare minimal financial needs. While one has to take a saner view of his personal life goals such as Work life balance, family, health, and self-actualization

Do we all ever diligently look at these or for that matter, know about their aspects and what influences them? These are classified between personal, financial and work such as Professional, Financial, Self-Actualization, Family & Health.  As elaborated above these weightings do vary at an individual level as each has his/her preference/requisites as well as these do change at the different stage of life. However, it is required to integrate these personal goals with their working life to build a right work-life balance something that workforce is actively seeking especially the millennials.

It is not always possible to have a standard model and achieve a perfect mix between professional goals and personal level, but it is indeed essential that we build or strike a right balance BETWEEN PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL GOALS. These as well have to manage and have to be in recalibrated mode at all times. Another critical aspect to be considered is to build a right chord between reality and wish list. There are different stages of our life the early 30s, 40s, the 50s, 60s, old age and these have events therein such as family issues (marriage, kids & their education), Health, Hobbies, etc. However in context to any of these goals, which has a vital importance to any personal life individual preferences may have different weightings due to the particular situation, but still, that needs to have bare minimum criteria as each of these are essentials for balanced and holistic life goals. I mean that while you could have a significant allocation of weightage to family in privacy purpose but it still needs balance for other components such as health & self. Besides these weights need to be aligned with professional life goals, what we call as work-life balance. In work life, Professional & Financial goals have to be well integrated as well to be aptly balanced with due weightings to each.