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I have just returned from a week's vacation in Cuba. (Returned, I might add, from +30 degree weather to +90 cm of snow. How can that be right?)
During that time the only access to the interwebs was via three computers that, I swear to god, were running dial-up.
Seven whole days without work. We found that, despite spending most of the day sprawled out on beach chairs and doing nothing more strenuous than turning the page on a cheap, cheezie novel, we were still sleeping 10-11 hours at night.
What a great way to unwind and recharge.
And now I'm back to about 300 work emails, which I'm not looking at because a) it's not work time yet, and b) my iphone died the moment I got back.
These communications blogs are supposed to have a business theme, and for this one I want to speak about work/life balance, which is a fairly hot topic in the business scene these days. It's a hot topic, but very few organizations truly do much more than talk about it.
In truth, my company is really good at allowing us to set our own hours and come and go as you please. I'm able to take off an afternoon to watch The Kid play volleyball, but I also end up working the odd late hour.
That's all well and good if you're actually able to leave work at work and leave home at home. Not everybody's good at that. As far as balance goes, I need to balance out my work life by being more present in my personal life. Sure we all need to "turn off" to recharge after a while. Some more than others, and that's ok. But personally I find myself turning off more than I'm turned on... so to speak. I suspect the number of people who are truly present when they are "off" are few. (Does that make sense? It does in my head!) And really, when I'm walking towards the pearly gates and Peter's there with his tally board, I don't want the "work" column and the "off to recharge" column to be the two biggest columns on my sheet.
So I challenge you - my LJ friends and my school chums who come to read this, this week, pay attention to your down time and notice are you REALLY present, or have you switched off to recharge. And to be clear, switching off to recharge is ok. We all need to do that. But pay attention to how much you do it and if it's become a habit. I know it has for me.
So that, ladies and gentlemen... that, and $8.45 will get you a grande half fat no whip latte with 2 pumps of hazelnut flavour at Starbucks.
As you were...
During that time the only access to the interwebs was via three computers that, I swear to god, were running dial-up.
Seven whole days without work. We found that, despite spending most of the day sprawled out on beach chairs and doing nothing more strenuous than turning the page on a cheap, cheezie novel, we were still sleeping 10-11 hours at night.
What a great way to unwind and recharge.
And now I'm back to about 300 work emails, which I'm not looking at because a) it's not work time yet, and b) my iphone died the moment I got back.
These communications blogs are supposed to have a business theme, and for this one I want to speak about work/life balance, which is a fairly hot topic in the business scene these days. It's a hot topic, but very few organizations truly do much more than talk about it.
In truth, my company is really good at allowing us to set our own hours and come and go as you please. I'm able to take off an afternoon to watch The Kid play volleyball, but I also end up working the odd late hour.
That's all well and good if you're actually able to leave work at work and leave home at home. Not everybody's good at that. As far as balance goes, I need to balance out my work life by being more present in my personal life. Sure we all need to "turn off" to recharge after a while. Some more than others, and that's ok. But personally I find myself turning off more than I'm turned on... so to speak. I suspect the number of people who are truly present when they are "off" are few. (Does that make sense? It does in my head!) And really, when I'm walking towards the pearly gates and Peter's there with his tally board, I don't want the "work" column and the "off to recharge" column to be the two biggest columns on my sheet.
So I challenge you - my LJ friends and my school chums who come to read this, this week, pay attention to your down time and notice are you REALLY present, or have you switched off to recharge. And to be clear, switching off to recharge is ok. We all need to do that. But pay attention to how much you do it and if it's become a habit. I know it has for me.
So that, ladies and gentlemen... that, and $8.45 will get you a grande half fat no whip latte with 2 pumps of hazelnut flavour at Starbucks.
As you were...