Story of carpenter – Work Life Balance

I hired a carpenter to help me restore an old farmhouse. After he had just finished a rough first day on the job, a flat tyre made him lose an hour of work, his electric saw quit, and his ancient pickup truck refused to start. While I drove him home, he sat in stony silence. On arriving, he invited me in to meet his family. As we walked toward the front door, he paused briefly at a small tree, touching tips of the branches with both hands. When opening the door, he underwent an amazing transformation. His tanned face was wreathed in smiles and he hugged his two small children and gave his wife a kiss.

Afterwards, he walked me to the car. We passed the tree and my curiosity got the better of me. I asked him about what I had seen him do earlier.

“Oh, that’s my trouble tree,” he replied. “I know I can’t help having troubles on the job, but one thing’s for sure, troubles don’t belong in the house with my wife and children. So I just hang them up on the tree every night when I come home. Then in the morning I pick them up again. Funny thing is,” he smiled, “when I come out in the morning to pick ‘em up, there aren’t nearly as many as I remember hanging up the night before.”

Quoted by Sue Knight in NLP at Work

I quoted this at a training workshop where the majority of the managers were in the habit of carrying their work tensions home, and reported that their relationships with their families were affected. Strained personal relationships led to a decrease in their overall productivity at work. One of them asked me, “Nice idea. But what if I get calls from the office when I am at home? This happens quite frequently, what should I do?

I replied, “I understand that you cannot not take such calls. When you take such calls, choose a separate corner of your home to talk. This way your family knows that you are not to be disturbed. When you finish the call and step out of the corner, leave your official work in that corner and consciously step back into the family.”

As psychotherapists and trainers, we see an increasing dysfunctionality in families where the boundary between office and home is blurred. The symptoms and indications of this are evident in families, where children feel neglected and turn to unhealthy coping strategies to compensate their discomfort. There is a disruption and disharmony in communication between partners.

What’s happening in your life??????????

A Geethan