work/life balance Tag

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.