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Many of the LinkedIn and the Flipboard magazines I follow online are awash with articles on Work-Life; Productivity etc. I recently read an article titled: The unorthodox productivity hacks of Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg which states that: “The leaders of the biggest companies on the planet are always trying to figure out what to do with their time, and it seems they all have come to one conclusion: work.” It is interesting to read between the lines on how their attitude and consultation to “Work” has an direct effect on their personal life.
In the 90s I used to be a 9-5 person leaving for work early and returning early. Any extra time I had to put in occasionally I used to take it home and after dinner with my wife Maria and the three boys (who are men now) I would take my laptop and do what I had to do and go back to the evening activities. This was before and around the millennium. My work days were packed with work activities with no distractions either personal nor social media as they did not exist during those times.
The majority of us in this and the last century grew up with an ingrained expectation that all our lives we will be working “full time” for “a single employer” at any given time. The full time job is dead. This is a thinking that is “passé” with the rise of the on–demand economy and the Dawning of the Age of Flex Labor is upon us. The article states that “the prevailing paradigm of people working as full-time employees for a single organization has outlived its usefulness”. A time when “most people will become independent contractors who have the flexibility to work part-time for several organizations at the same time, or do a series of short full-time gigs with different companies over the course of a year.
Things changed dramatically in the start of the 2000s when I lost my job due to restructuring to facilitate a buyout by a larger firm and had to start my own consulting firm Optum+ when two of my clients wanted me to continue to manage the projects which I was then manage for them through my employer. Now all of a sudden I became a one-man team with two clients and no support team unlike working in a large organization with support staff.
At the start of project management consultancy in the Fall of 2002, I put in hours somewhat close to my 9-5 work life and soon discovered the freedom of working whenever and wherever. Yes, there were and are many days when I have worked right through the day and sometime on the weekends. As time went by within less than 6 months, I was able to mix my work life and personal life and still provide the level of service to my client and also get my projects delivered. It was very liberating.
This was even before the Los Angeles Times declared in fall of 2013 - The concept of an 'untethered' office takes root in an article on real estate brokerage CBRE's staff in downtown L.A. now has no assigned desks or offices, with employees roaming freely, indicating it is an example for other white-collar firms.
Even before work hubs concept was introduced locally and globally as many organisations such as Liquid Space, Regus and hospitality firms such as Marriot have created “Work{Space} on demand locally & globally as the number of people not going to a traditional office every day has risen.
Technology has made it easy for people to work from anywhere combined with societal values for Work-life balance and family-friendly scheduling are important to us and many companies are increasingly willing to accommodate them. This in turn makers the eight-hour day and the six-day week outmoded. A recent Future Workplace survey found that 91 percent of millennials expect to stay in a job for less than three years, and that flexible hours and location-independent policies are more desirable than salary.
It is the Fall of 2015 and I over the years since the Fall of 2002 have adopted to the concept of the untethered workplace as I work on various architectural/engineering/maintenance projects for various client through my project Management consultancy Optum+. As an project consultant working on managing clients various program and project delivery, I have the opportunity to work out of multiple locations at any given time be it from my office; home office; cafes; airports or many parts of the world when travelling. Dividing my time during my waking hours and occasionally the weekends between Work & Life.
I have to admit from my personal experience, Work-Life is an attitude it is all in the head.
“We are in need of disruptive thinking about Work-Life.”
Few points to remember:
· Love your work and at the end of each day you will find it fulfilling
· Work is not a means to an end, family is for life, take control of it
· Be good at what you do at work and integrate it to your life
· Make the right choices at work and in life and balance your life
· Enjoy the benefits of a balanced work and life
Work-Life is about life itself. To work you need to live. We spend most of our life at work than our life activities, next comes sleeping. So live life while at work or at play.
As one website says it very clearly “Work and Life is not Black and White” it is all Gray. Integrate work and life and see your life change.
What is your attitude to Work-Life? I would like to hear from you.