Integrating Your Personal and Professional Life
Posted by Moses on Aug 23, 2007
Most of us have 2 lives. We have our life at work and we have our life at home. Most of us live with a false never shall the two meet. Unfortunately reality works very differently. How many of us are faced with a 2-3 hour commute and an 8-10 hour workday and struggle to find the time to have quality time with their spouse, children or friends? What happens most often is that we sacrifice some part of our lives (e.g. quiet time with a spouse, exercising, spiritual growth time) to meet the demands of our jobs/careers and the demands of our families.  And it works for awhile until you feel worn down and tired. If you’re like me you begin to question your choices and you want to know how can you make this work? How can you overcome the challenges that you’re facing? What are you willing to give up to have a richer and more rewarding life?
This is not a diatribe against working. I believe that working is good for the soul. There is a power and joy that comes from being productive that doesn’t occur if you just sit around and do nothing. The issue at hand is that most of us do not control the nature and structure of our work. As a result, we are left with the traditional and outdated 8-10 hour day surrounded by a 1-3 hour commute each way. This leaves us in a desperate position of trying to fit the rest of your life around your job.
How can we make this change? How do we take control of the situation and integrate our lives? I believe that the nature of work in this country needs to change. Globalization, the Internet and increased access to information offers new opportunities to invent new kinds of work that allow for the integration of our personal lives with our professional lives.
Over the next couple of weeks I’ll look at how work, jobs and careers have changed over time and how you can take control of your life and create a new kind of work that is satisfying, rewarding and supportive of the rest of your life.
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Poignant observations on the state of careers today. Long hours and long commutes is one of the reasons I went into business for myself…
I also have several entrepreneur friends who started their businesses for that reason as well.
2-3 hours commuting?
8-10 hours working?
wtf? i´d never do that! i think most people don´t even try to find a way how to make their lives more pleasurable. i couldn´t live without leisure time. and if i worked 10 hours a day that would be….no leisure time.
Dave and Chilli
Thanks for the comments. I think its time for public debate about work and career because the status quo simply isn’t working any longer.
I don’t commute for 2-3 hours but I do work 8 hours a day. I find it hard to give quality time for my family since I am working in a Night Shift. I always feel tired everytime I go home and will just sleep the whole day. I want to make it up during Saturdays and Sundays for them, but you know, it’s just so different.
Blogging can be considered as personal opinions on a theme… so its already personal and professional if you blog about ur favorite subjects……..