Christopher V. Flett

Just wanted to rant for a minute. I’m really, really, really tired of everyone talking about work/life balance. Here’s how I see it…people need work/life balance if they hate their work and/or hate their lives. It’s a way for people to make sure they don’t kill themselves because they hate their work. If you love what you do, you can enjoy it and find a way to embrace the other parts of your life. If you don’t love your work, find something that will float your boat. Life is too short to do shitty work. On the other side, if you love your work, learn when to put it away. You aren’t your work and your work doesn’t define you. If it does, you might want to look into getting some objective opinion on how you value yourself (re: shrink). Here are the Flett rules on how to forget the ‘balance’ and instead let both your life and work serve your greater needs which is to invest your time in things worth investing in.

1. Don’t start work too early unless you like mornings. If you do, cut off a bit early. Working too hard doesn’t impress anyone but yourself.
2. Work smart not hard. If you work at the same level each year, you are doing something wrong.
3. Consider the amount of money you earn in the time you earn it. If you are making $8/hour and you live in Vancouver, make better decisions, go to school, and quit eating Kraft Dinner. If you are making $200+ an hour and bitch about how hard you work, consider dropping your rate to $8 and eating Kraft Dinner. How does that feel?
4. Cut the umbilical cord with your Blackberry. Unless you are a neurosurgeon on call, turn the F&CKING thing off when you are on a date, with your kids, or at the movies. It screams, “I WISH I WAS MORE IMPORTANT THAN I AM!”
5. There is absolutely no reason you should have your cell phone on during a business meeting unless…you sell cell phones and need to demo one. You can use whatever excuse you want (waiting for an important call, your kid’s school might call, etc.) but overall, it is unimpressive.
6. Don’t answer emails on the weekend. Email is a privilege, not a requirement. If you wouldn’t call someone at home on a weekend, don’t email them on the weekend.
7. Consider what is really a work emergency and what you are making more important than it is. Who dies? If no one’s live is on the line, take a breath.
8. Rome wasn’t built in a day. It took many days, even months. Okay…years. As long as you are progressing, you are okay. If you are shrinking, stop the hemorrhaging by looking at what you are doing that isn’t producing.

If you are working in a job that doesn’t support your schedule, find a new job. If you are self-employed/own a business and don’t like your schedule, change your schedule. You’re the boss in both cases. On the phone with a client this morning, we realized that they were really busy doing stuff they shouldn’t be doing. Instead, they have people in place to do all the work that needs to be done. Step into that and happiness follows. Take a moment this weekend and decide what part of your work is serving your greater purpose and what parts are driving you nuts. Don’t balance the parts that make you nuts; eradicate them. If you enjoy going to work, you’ll get greater fulfillment in life. If your life sucks, don’t bury yourself in work, deal with the life issue. That’s why Ghost CEO rejects many prospective clients. They want to build business, but have personal issues that will get in the way. You have to make sure that both sides of you are being served and honored if you want to be happy, not balanced.

Agree, disagree? Let’s hear it!

Cheers,

C/