I had the huge pleasure earlier this week of being interviewed by Lizzie O’Leary from Marketplace Weekend about my take on work-life balance. (Hint: it involves ditching the “work vs life” dichotomy.)
The best interviewers both put you at ease and ask provocative questions; Lizzie does both extremely well. I immediately felt like I’d made a new friend – a friend who made me think more rigorously. My favourite bit is near the end, when she asks me how my notions of prioritizing fun and purpose apply to folks who are struggling to make ends meet in a tough economy.
You can listen to the interview here – and read the post that inspired it here. Here’s a taste of what you’ll find there:
There’s an idea I’ve been playing with: That there are two axes the make up what I call the Balance Matrix.
The first axis has to do with whose priorities you’re attending to: your own, or other people’s. (Let’s call this the impetus axis, since it’s about where the stimulus for the activity comes from.)
The second concerns whether the activities you’re engaged in energize or deplete you. (I’ll call this the energy axis.)
If you plot the activities that fill your day along these two axes, I think you’ll discover where your balance is out of whack.
For the impetus axis, you can ask yourself questions like, “How closely does this activity align with my values, goals, or purpose?” “Does this get me closer to something that matters to me?” or “What intrinsic rewards do I stand to gain from this?”
For the energy axis, try questions like, “After I complete this activity, will I feel more or less energetic?” “If it were up to me, is this something I would do for the fun of it?” or “How often do I feel bored, tired, or drained by this?”