I was playing around with an iPad app the other week called "think it" .... I'm sure you can do plenty with this app (I'm not terribly proficient and finding out how to utilise apps to their strengths), but I have for now concluded this app turns my iPad into a big expensive scribble pad (useful if you have a pointy thing thinner then my finger)...
So I got to scribbling (with my finger) about why my working week was so ridiculous last year; yes work was ridiculous, I was training for Ironman (but to be fair I rarely did more then 5 hours during the working 'week').... I basically wanted to understand where time had gone; so scribbled with my fat finger some numbers of approximately what i thought I did on average. These may not be entirely accurate;
So I worked out out that on average per day, after sleep, work, work out, eating breakfast and dinner that I had on average 3hours 36mins a day for other 'stuff' including going to or from the gym, setting up the turbo etc, talking to my parents or few remaining friends who tolerated my crazy ironman indulgence, soaking in the bath, feeding and cuddling the kittehs, blogging, reading, shopping, waking up, going to sleep, other household chores, let's not forget general monging etc
It's no wonder on longer working weeks then that I got a bit overwhelmed.... There was one time I had no food, absolutely none (well other then recovery powder!!,)! that was about the time my laundry basket was so overfull that I actually had no pants to wear either.... These situations clearly were resolved but often at the expense of sleep, which as we all know is a vital ingredient to not just athletic recovery but normal every day happiness and energy.... The second area which was forsaken was exercise; another sound ingredient to the energy balance of life....
So the question I now find myself asking is why did I do that? Why did I work 45 or 55 or even more? To what end? Did I save the planet with this time? Did I aid society with this work? Is the company thankful to me for doing this? Was it time well spent? Am I passionate even about what the business does? Was it really necessary? Why.. Why... Why... Why and why again?
Now had this been my own business, or one which I loved, was passionate about, valued it's worth and which had meaning to me then I don't think this would have been such an issue after all it would no doubt have been part of a bigger personal goal? So I would hope at least a sense of worth and satisfaction would have been derived from those sacrificed hours at the least.
A balance in life for me is key to both happiness and success, however one defines that success to be (and let's face it we as individuals change our own definition of what "success" is to ourselves over time; it's bound to change). And balance for me comes in the form of time to work, time for family and friends, time for me and time for 'stuff'.
What I do know from this is 3hours and 40mins of 'other' time is, for me at least, not enough of a balance. Particularly I guess when the thing your dedicating the majority of your time doing leaves you only feeling drained, with little sense of it being worthwhile.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Agreed. I rarely work more than forty hours. I get my "me time" in early on the week ends too, soze I haz more for the family...
ReplyDeletebalance is tough and your schedule has definitely been out of balance
ReplyDeleteGood diagnosis - sometimes difficult to see that bigger picture.
ReplyDeleteYou're so right about working for yourself Karen - choosing to run your life generally how you want it to run is SOOO much better than being told when to do what :))
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