Work Life Balance?
August 21, 2008 - 7:22pm — bexJames asked when was the last time you saw somebody achieving work-life balance. I wondered if computer geeks could even achieve work-life balance? Hell no! Not the good ones anyway...
The good ones think about solving problems every hour of the day. I probably talk shop in the off-hours at least 20 hours per week with Alec, Michelle, and other folks... Is this a bad thing? I think Isaac Schlueter says it best:
I can’t work just 8 hours a day. Either you ride the biorhythm, with its highs and lows, and capitalize on every bit of go-time that your brain gives you, or you crank out boring hours for your handful of dimes. “Healthy work-life balance” is for bank tellers. An artist doesn’t stop being an artist when he goes home.
Amen to that... since software is a creative process, perhaps more similar to gene splicing than engineering, work-life balance is nearly impossible. Such balance is for process workers, not knowledge workers.
Sorta agree
Bex, I think you are right, but also miss a key issue about software creation: the corporation limitations. I love being creative, love making software, love solving problems. And when I'm hot on the trail of some such thing, I'll spend every last minute of the day to get it right. When your work and your passion are aligned, then "balance" is not necessary. The corporation however (be it the boss with the crazy ideas, the corporate guidelines, the firewall rules, etc) has a way of stealing the joy out of the process. You don't get to do it your way, and you have to collaborate and compromise. I can't tell you how many times I've said something to the effect "I can do it your approved way, and spend two weeks on it, or I can do it my way using and have it ready for you this afternoon."
They pay the bills so I do it their way, and balance is needed. I'd still classify myself as a knowledge worker. I just don't have the artistic freedom to do it the way I want to every single time.
Don't agree
I don't exactly agree. I believe that you need to "change hats" as they say. Sometimes you need to change your hats and not think about solving the world's business problems and be a father, husband, brother, friend, etc, to the people you love. If all you really are doing is working you are missing out on a lot that this life can offer you outside of sitting in front of your computer, iPhone, etc.
Some Painters...
Get to make portriats and beautiful landscapes. Others have to white wash walls. I agree with both Bex's idea of not needing to balance it if you enjoy what you do but I also know where Peter is coming from.
Maybe this has something to do with whether you're working for yourself or "The Man"?
Its not about ALWAYS working...
You don't stop being a parent when you physically go to work... nor do you stop being a computer geek when you physically go home. Its who you are. And if you don't enjoy it, then maybe you should consider a change... either in your career, or in your perspective.
Work is a part of life... it's not an either/or scenario. The only thing that balances life is death. And if your work is death, then you should really consider a career change ;-)
Totally agree
After spending some time recently with Robert Fritz' book "The Path of Least Resistance" I've become very aware of the need to create which exists within me. Nevertheless, the other equally important aspects of my life are ever-present and compete for the finite number of waking hours I'm given each day. Fortunately for those of us with a passion for what we do, the energy we put into our passion can multiply and allow us to invest that excess energy in whatever we choose: our families, our friends, our communities, and even back again into our work.
Consider the terminology
The terminology is fascinating, casting life and work as opposites. I thought death was the opposite of life.
Work is a part of life, and a rather important part, in that it makes food and shelter and clothing possible -- not to mention all the other crap we crave. If it weren't for our jobs we'd have to pound our laundry on rocks, eat twigs and berries, and chase -- or be chased by -- wild animals because twigs and berries suck.
We all need to work, but opinions differ on where work fits in the mix. For some of us it defines who and what we are. For others it's simply a means to an end. Neither approach is inherently wrong or healthier than the other. If you can get out of bed in the morning and fall asleep at night, you're ahead of the game.
However you mix it, if you're not happy, as Bex points out, you have to make changes. The irony is that happiness doesn't just happen. You have to work at it.
exactly...
If they need to be balanced, that means "work" the opposite of "life," which implies:
work == death
that's a pretty sad state... maybe instead of work-life balance, employers should try to make work less like death...
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