Work, Family, Scene — Pick two
A few thoughts on work life balance inspired by a business truism.
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This last week I've been reminded of this idea from
.
It's a twist on that business truism (fast, quality, cheap — pick two) but about work-life balance. The basic idea: you can have any combo, but not all three at once.
Focus on work and spend time with your family (including partners)
Focus on networking and spending time with your family
Focus on creating great work and connecting with the community, but put close relationships on the back burner.
Whatever you pick, you can’t pick it all.
“A time to plant and a time to pluck”
The good news is that we go through seasons.
As an early adult, you probably don't have a family to focus on. Once you do, you can switch between monk mode and marketer mode.
In monk mode, you focus on work (without neglecting your family). You wait till you've got something good then switch to marketer mode to share it with the world. And there may even be a time when you spend time away from your family for an event or tour.
But you can't do it all at once.
You might dabble in a bit of work while you're promoting, or bring your family along with a promotional tour, but your attention and focus will always be divided.
And that just causes stress.
The anxiety of a divided focus
When we split our efforts in multiple directions at once, we don't move forward. We stay put shaking left and right.
That is probably why so many of us feel anxious when we try to do it all — we're constantly moving around without any direction.
This isn’t to say you can’t have multiple even diverse interests, you just need a common through-line.
We’re family
Why have I been thinking about this all?
Well, I’ve been seeing my extended family recently and with travel, all my regular commitments and some illness to boot, I’ve not been able to keep working.
But that’s okay, it was a time to focus on family and that mattered more than anything else. In the past, this might have frustrated me but not this time. I remembered David Allen’s words
If you’ve been trying to do too much, perhaps you should accept that this is a different season.
P.s. I highly recommend checking out Austin’s original post with the accompanying poem.