Complaints = Imbalance? – Tina B's World
post title image 5.5.22

Complaints = Imbalance?

If you’re getting complaints about your job performance and on projects, it might be a sign of a work-life imbalance.

If you’re feeling the clash between your personal and professional lives, both are suffering and you might just end up getting called out from coworkers or loved ones.

woman feeling stress while working on her computer

Unease -> Cracks in the Foundation

First thing you feel is that uneasy nauseous feeling. You just know something is off.

  • Your sleep schedule is erratic.
  • You’re experiencing a lack of energy and focus.
  • The sight of your to-do list stresses you out.

In the back of your mind is the nagging thought that you’re letting yourself, your coworkers and your loved ones down.

Eventually, you won’t be the only one affected. You start to see cracks in your relationships with family, friends, colleagues, customers, and clients. 

Something Has Got to Give

You have to do something, you already know that. 

If you just let it go and try to power through, you are going to suffer from the consequences of poor time management.. because that’s what this boils down to. Disorganized priorities and an inability to manage your time properly are what leads to your professional and personal lives feeling out of sync.  

Simply put, you know what you need to do.

  • What are your most important tasks?
  • What needs to get done first? 

Create a schedule for yourself that will allow you to ensure the most important things on your to-do list get done first. It might not be work-related and that’s just fine. For instance, if you’ve committed to going to a school event for your kiddo, that is just as important as completing a project (well, to you anyway). 

The Sound of Silence

For the most part, your loved ones aren’t going to throw a ticker tape parade and start marching in front of you when they start to see the first hints of a struggle. Most likely, they won’t say anything at all. 

They simply feel the disappointment or sadness stemming from your lack of organizational skills and quietly hope that you’ll get it back on track.

If they see the problems getting worse, they might just bust out the drums and floats to let you know they’re concerned.. or they will make passive-aggressive comments, which serves no one but it all-too-common in families.

They’re showing that they care and are concerned in their own way.

Annie, Are you Okay?

They may simply ask if you are okay.

Fun fact: neither my daughter nor I are named Annie, but we actually use this phrase (we sing it too) as sort of a code to see if the other needs to talk. 

Maybe your loved ones will suggest something that worked for them that is way different than what you’re doing now.

While these positive and caring moments are not necessarily mean in any way, underneath it all, the person may be trying to discuss this with you as a way to express that they are disappointed.

In their mind, they are trying to help.

But the fact remains: a work-life imbalance needs to be fixed by YOU and YOU ALONE.

If  things start to really go off the handle, you might start seeing a more vocal or brash response. It depends on your peoples. 

Everything falls apart

Do any of these sound familiar? 

  • Arguments with your significant other
  • Crying children because you missed another event
  • Your friends stop inviting you to things
  • Customer complaints pile up
  • Work reviews are poor

All possibilities of what can happen if you don’t nip this in the bud now.

You don’t want to be shut out of joint ventures or collaborations due to poor performance.

Don’t let things get to this stage.

If it already has, you need to take a step back, pause, breathe and look for solutions to achieve that balance in your life.

After you have taken steps to improve your situation, it’s time to right your wrongs.

If anyone has said something to you, contact them and assure them that you are trying to get everything back in order.

If possible, set some time aside to make it up to that person, however you need to. Thank them for sticking by you during your ridiculousness. 

Rant or Rave here: