Adenike Oyeledun – Lagos, Nigeria

I practice as a Corporate and Commercial lawyer, which I understand does not constitute the same sub-practice(s) in every firm. At the firm where I work, this includes; general corporate advisory, regulatory compliance, intellectual property, labour and employment, company secretarial, corporate governance, and immigration.

There are diverse peculiarities to this area of practice including; navigating the bureaucracy and administrative bottlenecks in a number of regulatory agencies (although this is generally improving, as most of these agencies now have forward thinking individuals at the helm of affairs, who are desirous of changing the narrative positively), managing the challenges arising from different time zones in cross-border transactions, and being able to offer legal assistance to clients outside the court room.

My understanding of work-life balance is having a healthy balance between life and work – which is not and should not be your life!!! ( Yes, I am shouting) You have a life and work is only a fraction of that life. Okay, let me stop shouting and explain; your life is everything about you, it includes family, religion, friends, hobbies, passions (I do not mean the sexual type please) /interests, relationships (yes, the boyfriend and girlfriend type) / marriage, REST, TGIF-ing and oops I almost forgot work…and then there is Lagos traffic (at some point we have to accept this reality…I kid) etc. To have work-life balance, your work should not impede these things, you should have “ample time” for these other life components whilst still excelling at your work.

I believe work-life balance is achievable… I mean with God all things are possible…it is tough but it might be achievable, if you are determined. This is a perfect opportunity to hone my motivational speaking skills and tell you how “I have been able to achieve it”. However, I will be sincere and say I have only been able to achieve a 40/50% balance and not total balance. I am still trying to figure out how to achieve a 100% balance (though I doubt there will be a one size fits all solution). Please let me know if you figure this out before I do…they say sharing is caring.

One major impediment to achieving somewhat of a work-life balance in our sector is time management. You should work when you are meant to work and not spend actual work hours (“9 to 5”) faffing around. Learn to prioritise, delegate albeit reasonably and try to take a break when your body is telling you it has had enough. Yes we are “always busy” but there are down times every now and again, and these are the times you should make maximal use of to “do you”.