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September 08, 2007
W-L balance is a non-issue: first, choose the life you want.
I should be catching up on lawyering this morning, but a fine thinker-lawyer-blogger just sent me an enlightening article. Work-life balance is an issue we've made fun of a lot at this blog; don't worry, we'll continue do that. To me, W-L balance is a "concept" (1) stifling verve, passion, creativity and achievement, (2) ignoring that good and great things are hard-won and (3) advanced by people who really don't like what they do all day. Still, our blog, What About Clients? likely failed to pick up on the better threads of the "issue":
For me, the point is and always has been making my/your life a work of art. That's it. If you think there is something selfish or grandiose about that, fine. Art is intended to make sense of our world and ourselves. Choose your life, and then fill in the blanks. Blood, family and relationships for most of us will be the priority and a major part of the life canvas. You struggle, you grow, you surround yourself with people who stretch you, you work, you give and you increase love. Yet this stuff blends together--and needs to blend so we can be happy. For many of us, life and work are not capable of a bright-line separation if you love your existence, the people in it and what you do.
Hopefully, people in your life want you to chase a dream or two. It makes you happy. And, hey, communications technologies, and the lemming-like madness often surrounding it all, are no cure-all--but technologies do make work-life "blurring" possible, easier on others and often fun. Someone just said this all a lot better than I can or have here, and thanks to Stephanie West Allen of Idealawg, I just read it. See Marci Alboher's piece in the New York Times small business section, "Blurring by Choice and Passion".
Posted by JD Hull at September 8, 2007 11:27 PM