31 Oct Why work/life balance is an oxymoron
I often get accused of having bad “work/life balance”. I’m often told I need to get off the grid, stop being available 24/7, etc. I’ve already written about what happened the one time I succumbed to pressure and turned off my cell phone for a day, almost missing a HUGE opportunity. I’ve also written about why going off the grid for any length of time is dumb.
So today I’ve decided to explain to you why I think work/life balance is a crock. I apologize if this sounds defensive but I’m feeling like maybe it’s an opportunity to teach people that happiness is not based on how much “life” you have in proportion to how much you “work”. The lesson I’ve learned is when work is fun and exciting and fulfilling, it’s part of life. It’s not something you have to do to HAVE a life.
To make my point, I think you need to see how much time I spend goofing off. Probably 80% of these items are during the week, as Saturdays are reserved for spending time with my mom and Sunday mornings are sacred. I do like to get ready for the week by working on Sundays, like I am now. So here are some stats about my life in 2011 – since I put just about everything on my calendar it wasn’t too hard to add up.
- Days spent skiing in the Rocky Mountains – 37
- Miles run – I’d say about 300
- Miles biked – Only about 100, and I only did that to train for the duathlon I did in August
- Lunches with girlfriends during the week – 64 (I didn’t count coffees there were more of those too)
- Hours spent x-country skiing – 62 (It might be more, it was a snowy year in Minnesota)
- Spa appointments – 14 (including the two I have scheduled before the end of the year
So…now you’re probably adding this all up and saying “when the hell does this girl ever work?”. The answer is that I take breaks throughout my day. I might start working at 7 am and sometimes finish at 8pm, but I am often out running (or skiing) or doing something else during the day. The way that’s managed is to be available most of the time via phone or email, twitter, text or even Facebook.
People think I must feel “tied down” by this but it’s actually the reverse. Reporters and clients can catch me anytime, anywhere. That means if I want to throw the dogs in the car and drive out to Colorado to catch an epic snowfall (okay, I only did this once but it was over 6 feet) I can do that. I can take an hour or two to run and clear my head. I just work later that night.
But the bottom line is not time management. The bottom line is that I love what I do, and I love my clients. I want to know what’s happening with them and I never feel like I need a huge break. That’s the difference. When you’re doing something that you like it’s not a question of sacrificing life for work. Work is as fun, and sometimes even more exciting, than the rest of my life. Especially when hubby is crabby.
My new hair stylist told me the other day that her job was her “me” time. She loves to cut hair and it’s when she doesn’t have to take care of her kids. That made sense to me. So if you’re thinking that you need to balance your “work” and your “life”? My question would be…are you really doing what you want to do? Because if you are, it doesn’t feel like work.
So the next time sometime accuses me of poor “work/life balance” I think I’ll just share the above stats. You guessed it..I’m actually a slacker. 🙂
