185. Question Paper for The Balancing Act

Question paper for the examination of Paper III (The Balancing Act), Work-Life Balancing Course

Answer any five. Each question carries ten marks.

1. Write short notes on: work, homework, work from home, home from work.

2. Outline the steps you will take to overcome (i) Sunday Evening Depression Syndrome (SEDS) and (ii) Wednesday Morning Frustration Syndrome (WMFS).

3. (i) You work 110 hours a week. You met your son/daughter the other day on the street and failed to recognize him/her as your child. People are very angry at home. How will you make up for it?

(ii) Your boss has seen a photo of you holidaying on a beach. You are wearing a blue “Fuck My Boss, Bitch!” T-Shirt. You were also on sick leave with a fake medical certificate. How do you handle the situation?

4. You have come to office in the morning and found that the office is closed. You have enquired and realized that it is Sunday.

(i) Diagnose your condition.

(ii) Describe five possible reasons why your wife and kids and other people at home did not stop you from leaving for office on a Sunday morning.

5. (i) Prepare a set of arguments to explain to your boss that you need to spend more time with your family.

(ii) Prepare a set of arguments to explain to your subordinate why She/he needs to spend more time in office.

6. You wish to take a five day vacation during the Christmas week.

(i) Outline the lies you will have to tell your boss and the HR.

(ii) Describe the fake evidences you will need to furnish to substantiate those lies.

(iii) Describe which steps you will need to take after the vacation to ensure you do not get fired.

181. Question Paper for Work and Life

Question paper for the examination of Paper I (Work and Life), Work-Life Balancing Course

Answer any five. Each question carries ten marks.

1. Explain why there is a Working Class but no Living Class.

2. Give short definitions of Working Condition, Shelf Life and Reserve Stock. Describe how these parameters are to be applied to humans.

3. In prehistoric ages daily work like hunting and finding shelters or caves were the fundamental functions of life. Discuss when and how during the course of human history work became labelled as work.

4. (i) Does the entertainment industry exist for enjoying Life or for reducing stress at Work? Justify.

(ii) Do we watch films to forget Life or to forget Work? Give your opinion.

5. Describe what constitutes work and what constitutes life for the following persons:

(i) a toddler

(ii) a terminal cancer patient

(iii) the son of a billionaire tycoon

(iv) a housewife in an ultra-conservative family.

6. (i) Outline at least five different ways to celebrate free time without drinking, smoking, snorting or injecting stuff.

(ii) Give convincing arguments why one should do the first five and not the last four. Or the other way round.

154. Syllabus for Space and Time

Part of the syllabus of Paper II (Space and Time), Work-Life Balancing Course

1. Designated and non-designated places for work and life. Spaces for work: office, bedroom, dining table, hotel room in vacation etc. Spaces for life: office canteen, sitting room at home, toilets, beach, taxi or metro etc. Why people work from plane but not from train.

2. Conversion of space. How to use work space for life and vice versa. Proper utilization of toilets and toilet breaks. Applications of a dining table. Pursuing hobbies at office. Hiding places in office desks. Setting up guards and avoiding detection. How to play games from office computers.

3. Difference between bringing work to home and working from home. Advantages of bringing work to home: pleased boss, overtime charges from office, avoidance of home responsibility, escape from reacting with irritating and/or demanding spouses. How to work more at home and less in office. Effective utilization of free time in office.

(…)

5. Effective and ineffective periods for working. Time to clear pending work. The lure of the night. The horror of early morning. The guilt-ridden weekend afternoon. (…)

149. Green, Yellow, Red and Doctors

Class teaching (Paper III - The Balancing Act; Work-Life Balancing)

Teacher: “We all know some jobs are more demanding than others. Some have more responsibility and some are associated with more stress.

“Similarly some jobs make work-life balancing more difficult than others. Accordingly one should take steps to maintain that balance.

“But first, one has to know where one stands. There are three different zones based on the type of job you have.

“If you are in the Green Zone, all is fine. You do not have to be concerned about maintaining a work-life balance. You have plenty of time for it and you can actually indulge yourself in slight and deliberate imbalances. Example jobs are: teaching, government jobs, family business, marine engineering / merchant navy, day-shift in BPO etc.

“If you are in the Yellow Zone, you need to be careful. You have probably still not lost the balance but there is always a risk of slipping. The risk mostly comes from ambitions, but other factors like pressure of family responsibility, glamour of the outside world, easy money, partners outside marriage etc. may also play a role. Example jobs: sales and marketing, politics, pilots, BPO – night shift, media jobs etc.

“But if you are in the Red Zone, you need to be concerned. I am not saying that you have to leave the job or stop working, but I am saying that in this zone one needs to be consciously aware of maitaining even a semblance of balance. Accept that you are deeply tilted towards work and nearly a stranger to family. If you want your children to still be able to recognize you and your partner to remain with you, then force yourself to find quality family time at least thrice every week. Example jobs: teaching with private tuition, government job involving long distance commutes, IT, management, a career in international sports, news editors.

“And then there are doctors. If you are a doctor and you want your family to comprehend and be compassionate about your schedules then try to find another doctor as your partner.”

105. Is That Work?

Class Teaching (Work-Life Balancing, Paper I – Work and Life)

Teacher: “Do not make the mistake of thinking that your work begins and ends at your workplace. It is only your paid work that ends there. But you will be working in many other places.

“So, the point is not where you are. The point is, do you consider it as work?

“I will tell you an easy way to find if it is work. Imagine that you are at the middle of something and a friend or a neighbour calls you up for a chat. Now, you don’t want to chat and you want to finish what you are doing.

“What will you tell this person? Will you say you are working? Or give him the reason why you cannot talk to him? If you do, then it is Work.

“If, instead, you just say that you are busy, and not say anything more, or simply lie, then it is not work. Then it is Life.”

78. On the Boards in Classrooms

On The Boards

Social Media Usage – Paper III, Basic Writing Skills

Homework: Write a “Share to 20 people in 10 minutes” text on war casualties.

Party Politics – Paper III, Introduction to Daily Politics

(Nothing on the board)

Family Management – Paper III, Core and Extended Family

The teacher is drawing two pairs of circles on the board. One pair is concentric and the other one is overlapping.

English for Chatting – Paper II, English Writing

it, you, they

its, your, their

it’s, you’re, they’re

Office Dynamics – Paper III, Working in Team

What are the different types of colleagues in a team?

Time Management – Paper III, Goal Setting

Today’s Topic:

Obstacles – demolish or climb?

Work-Life Balancing – Paper II, Space and Time

Survey: Are you happy with your allocated space at work?

Yes	No

77. The Four Lives

Classroom Teaching (Work-Life Balancing, Paper I – Work and Life)

Teacher: “Please note down the four different lives that we live.

“One, the work life, where you spend time to earn money.

“Two, the private life, where you spend time of your own volition with your near and dear ones.

“Three, the personal life, which is your me-time, the time you spend with yourself.

“And four, the unpaid work life, where you spend time doing chores or tasks for which you do not get paid. This include house chores among others.

“Your ultimate goal should be to reduce the duration of number 4 and increase that of number 2 + 3 as much as possible.

“And while doing that you should aim for an optimal duration for number 1. Which is the trickiest part.”

71. Work, Life and Me-Time

Teacher’s introductory lecture at the first class of Work-Life Balancing Crash Course

“A warm welcome to all of you at the NILS! On behalf of the faculty of Work-Life Balancing course, I wish you a very engaging and productive three months ahead of you.

“I am sure most of you have faced serious difficulties in balancing Life and Work. In this course we will train you to overcome these difficulties.

“There is one common misconception about this issue that I want to do away with right in the beginning.”

(On the board)

 Work and Life can never be balanced.

“The best you can hope for is to have an equilibrium, where the excess of one can be compensated by an exaggeration of the other.

“It is like a pendulum. The only true balance exists at the midpoint but it happens as a passing phase. When the pendulum is truly balanced, it has stopped. And when your life is truly at balance, you have died.

“But we do not need to be so morbid. There are ways to live a less complicated life than what you are doing now and we will guide you towards that.

“There is one more thing I want to make clear in the beginning itself. Your Life is dedicated to people you live with and your Work is dedicated to your superiors and your office. Neither Life, nor Work has anything to do with your personal wishes or engagements.

“Your personal life comes under Me-Time and is beyond the scope of this course. But on successful completion of the Work-Life Balancing Course you will be eligible for a 20% discount for the Me-Time Management Crash Course at any NILS branch within one year.”