If you’re going to write a blog, it’s always more interesting to pick a subject that divides opinion… so here we go… this blog is on work/life balance!
It’s one of the most frequent topics I read on LinkedIn and almost everyone thinks it’s universally good… but what a ridiculous concept on so many levels!
When you’re sat on your veranda aged 80, should you look across on your life and question whether you got work/life balance correct? Yes absolutely, and you need to try and ensure the answer is yes. However, in my view, to look at the question any other way is insane.
Should someone in their 30s and 40s, who aspires to the finer material things in life, expect to work 37.5 hours per week? No, if you have hopes of a nice house and early retirement you should be working at least 45 hours, because these are your peak earning years that should cover the ‘now’ and the ‘future’. These are the years to do extra hours for extra pay, or extra hours to sow the seeds of future promotions.
Should you still be working 37.5 hours per week when your 65? I can’t believe anybody wants to and surely the target at that age is about having freedom to make choices and enjoying the fruits of your life.
If you notice on both of the examples above I gave a definitive answer, because I really feel strongly you work extra hard in the middle of your life, so you can pull back towards the latter stages. However, that’s my opinion from aspirations to give my family the best life I can, materially and emotionally.
Before I get attacked for writing this blog, I completely understand the argument from some people that they need to work every hour available just to make ends meet, and the idea of ever pulling back to ‘normal hours’ is aspirational. This blog is not designed to criticise or comment on those in any way; it’s actually looking at the people in the opposite camp (and many social media contributors). These are individuals who choose to only work the minimum required and then complain about the unfairness of the World.
Let me clear… life is about input giving output, it’s about risks leading to rewards, and it’s about progress requiring sacrifice. It’s about choices.
If someone chooses to miss out on some aspects of family time to focus on providing a strong future for that same family, then sorry to be the bearer of some controversial news… but that’s normal the World over! What isn’t normal (as a rule of thumb) is that every family member is there all the time. It doesn’t mean there isn’t ‘love’, in fact I would say it’s the opposite; these are people taking tough decisions for long term benefit.
None of us want to be slaves to the system, but we do need to step back and move away from this ridiculous concept of work/life balance ‘all the time, at any age’ and embrace that different phases of life require a different focus. Someone who grafts in their middle years will miss out on family time, some social events, and maybe even a holiday; but their target end result is then different from someone who doesn’t choose that route. Neither side is right or wrong, it’s simply that your decision has a consequence, and by making that decision you lose the right to moan about the people who took the other path.
So there you have it, my first rant on the binary concept of work/life balance and hours worked… but I’m not finished!
Over the last 4-5 years we seemed to have moved into an era where checking emails in the evening or logging on for an hour on holiday is frowned upon, and that we must at all times have a clear segregation of ‘in’ work and ‘out’ of work. I totally accept that for some career paths this ‘pigeonhole’ approach is completely valid, but I would suggest that for millions of others a more ‘nuanced’ approach is better, and sweeping comments on social media and from politicians are not helpful.
Whether we like it or not we live in a 24/7 technology driven World and we have to find balance between embracing it, but equally not letting it rule our lives. For me, spending an hour a day on holiday, with a beer by the beach, is a great way to control my mindset and my inbox. Do my kids know I do it, absolutely they do, but equally they see when I close the lid they have my undivided attention. I’m teaching them work ethic, boundaries, sensible use of technology, and when they have me, they have me 100%.
Now not everyone is the same, but that’s my key message, no one rule or view is going to work here, but it’s for individuals to establish their own ‘best practice’, and certainly not for social media or governments to dictate.
Work hard, play hard, live long, live happy… and be nice to one another.
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