At least I'm not watching Lipstick Jungle right now
And so with the passing of another financial year, I can at least say that's it will be 11 months before I have to fill out another self assessment form where I try to convince my employer that I like my job, that I have goals for the next year, and that my work and life are nicely in balance.
Out of curiosity, if an employee fills out a form, and no-one ever reads it, was I really lying?
This, and also the fact that I spent today at home studying while my wife and kids were out for the day, got me thinking about the possibility that "work/life balance" might just be the second dumbest phrase in the world.*
For a start, at some point, someone will notice that work is actually a part of life rather than something entirely separate to be balanced against it.
More importantly, there will be an emerging global consciousness of the fact that working is not that much fun and, as a general rule, most of us would rather be doing something else. Work is the part of my life that I have to put up with in order to enjoy the other parts of my life. Technically, I don't need to work in order to enjoy time with my children on the weekend. However, I do have to work if I want my time with my kids to involve something other than homeschooling them.
In a tent.
In other words, money doesn't buy happiness, it buys rather more useful things like food and stuff.
So, having figured out that work is the part of my life that I enjoy the least, why would I want to balance it with anything? This is like saying that my next overseas holiday should have a "seeing cool stuff/getting food poisoning" balance. Perhaps television should have a "Buffy/Today Tonight" balance. And, frankly, I could go on for a while here.
My point is that "work/life" balance may just be a phrase employers came up with to try to imply that they are doing us a favour by allowing us to occasionally see our own families. We should, apparently, be grateful that they do this for us and pay us too.
This is, of course, insane.
And it's probably going to annoy me for a while.
* A close second behind "I think Kyle Sandilands should host this show"
Out of curiosity, if an employee fills out a form, and no-one ever reads it, was I really lying?
This, and also the fact that I spent today at home studying while my wife and kids were out for the day, got me thinking about the possibility that "work/life balance" might just be the second dumbest phrase in the world.*
For a start, at some point, someone will notice that work is actually a part of life rather than something entirely separate to be balanced against it.
More importantly, there will be an emerging global consciousness of the fact that working is not that much fun and, as a general rule, most of us would rather be doing something else. Work is the part of my life that I have to put up with in order to enjoy the other parts of my life. Technically, I don't need to work in order to enjoy time with my children on the weekend. However, I do have to work if I want my time with my kids to involve something other than homeschooling them.
In a tent.
In other words, money doesn't buy happiness, it buys rather more useful things like food and stuff.
So, having figured out that work is the part of my life that I enjoy the least, why would I want to balance it with anything? This is like saying that my next overseas holiday should have a "seeing cool stuff/getting food poisoning" balance. Perhaps television should have a "Buffy/Today Tonight" balance. And, frankly, I could go on for a while here.
My point is that "work/life" balance may just be a phrase employers came up with to try to imply that they are doing us a favour by allowing us to occasionally see our own families. We should, apparently, be grateful that they do this for us and pay us too.
This is, of course, insane.
And it's probably going to annoy me for a while.
* A close second behind "I think Kyle Sandilands should host this show"
posted by I'm not Craig at 9:16 PM
3 Comments:
i, too, am glad you aren't watching lipstick jungle.
for then it would be hard to hold you in the highest esteem. in which i do. hold you.
on the work/life balance thing. it's a hard thing to get right. few do.
on the money doesn't buy happiness thing: even the dalai lama says that wealth is important (i guess by wealth he means money). this from the book of happiness:
"Although it is possible to achieve happiness, happiness is not a simple thing. There are many levels. In Buddhism, for instance, there is a reference to the four factors of fulfilment, or happiness: wealth, worldly satisfaction, spirituality and enlightenment. Together they embrace the totality of an individual's quest for happiness."
I'm guessing though that the four things need to be in balance. Just being rich won't make you happy. And I don't think it's about being rich, but having enough to not be poor. Maybe.
Recently my husband's employer won some big contract and to thank the team for all their hard work the bosses threw a drinks shindig in the boardroom. I couldn't believe that to thank a group of people for working hard they were invited to spend more time at the office with their colleagues. A far greater reward would have been to give everyone the afternoon off.
There is no possibility of typing a response until I get one thing done first
MELBA HOLDS ME IN THE HIGHEST ESTEEM!!
C'MOOOOOON!!!!
Interesting to read your thoughts and the Dalai Lama's on happiness. I'd be of the view that wealth is the least important of those four things, but you're right, it depends on your definition of wealth.
My current goals, wealth wise, include:
1. Being able to choose where my children go to school without cost being a determining factor
2. Being able to spend more that $8 on a bottle of wine even if we don't have guests coming over
3. Not having to check my bank account before buying a $70 pair of Rivers shoes for work because I've had the last pair for two years and both shoes have holes in the toe.
Then again, I live in an awesomely nice house and I can afford to heat in in winter, eat good food and still have broadband for blogging, so I'm well up there on the wealth scale really.
Leilani
I am going to spend both of this weekend studying, with the exception of tonight, when I will be going out to dinner with my employer and his wife.
Probably not how I would have chosen to spend the only night off I'm likely to have all week.
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