Rethinking Your Life-Work Balance
What does your life-work balance look like? Nigel Marsh, author of Fat, Forty, Fired: One Man's Frank, Funny, and Inspiring Account of Losing His Job and Finding His Life, gave a recent talk a TED, in which he explained how he took a year off from the corporate world to rethink how to improve the life side of the balance sheet.
The 13 minute video isn't really an epiphany, but it's fun and instructive -- and may motivate you to kickstart a re-evaluation of your own lifestyle.
He makes four main points:
- Marsh says that activities like Casual Fridays mask a core issue -- that many jobs are fundamentally incompatible with young families. Says Marsh: "Many people work long hours to buy things they don't need to impress people they don't like. Going to work on a Friday with jeans and a t-shirt isn't really getting to the nub of the issue."
- He contends that government and corporations will never really solve the problem -- people need to take initiative in their own lives. A nursery in the workplace is an enlightened gesture, for example, but also means you simply spend more time in the office.
- Be careful with timeframe in which to judge the work-life balance. Elongate the timeframe -- you can't judge your personal balance on a day-by-day basis, but you should also not be content to put off lifestyle improvements to retirement.
- Finally, he says, approach the question of your life-work balance in a balanced way. Don't improve your life just by going to the gym. Attend to your health, your intellect, your spiritual side, and more.