WORK-LIFE (OUT OF) BALANCE
WORK-LIFE (OUT OF) BALANCE
Steve Jobs said "Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it."
He was dead at age 56.
Those of us in the working world often talk about “work-life balance”. For workers in the US, work consumes the largest part of our waking hours. If we find work that we love doing, it doesn’t really feel like “work”, it feels like Life.
My new course Awaken To Your Purpose has begun and I have a group of amazing women participating who are over-achievers. Each of them has contributed to the world in great and meaningful ways because they have loved what they do. Remember, Mr. Jobs says “…the only way to do great work is to love what you do”
But Steve Jobs died at age 56.
What happens when you have spent your life perfecting your resume, giving nearly every waking hour to your work, and now you are age 56 or 66 or 76 or even 86 and all you know what to do is work?
That’s the dilemma facing a large part of the workforce. When work has brought joy and meaning and purpose in life and now for a variety of reasons work no longer fills that gap, what’s next?
David Brooks in his book The Road To Character talks about Resume vs Eulogy virtues. The difference is Resume virtues are just that, the things you have on your resume, your qualifications for the job. Eulogy Virtues are the things people say about you at your funeral. Eulogies are not generally filled with your titles from work, the letters after your name, or the budgets you balanced. Eulogies are for sharing who you were as a human being.
Work has dramatically changed during the pandemic. Work demands have soared for healthcare and other essential workers to the point of complete exhaustion, while others are simply out of work due to closures of businesses.
So where does that leave us in work-life balance? Wobbling. When all we know how to do is work…it’s time to discover what else is out there in the world that brings us joy.
Steve Jobs also said
"For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: 'If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?' And whenever the answer has been no for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something."
It’s time to ask yourself that question, “…do I want to do what I am about to do today?” If the answer is regularly “no”, then is it time to change something and maybe begin working on your eulogy virtues?!
Love and Light,
