December 19th, 2006
Work Life Balance
The topic of separating your "personal life" versus "work life" is nothing new. There have always been people that work too many hours, don't take enough vacation, miss their child's soccer game or dance recital, or are late for that special dinner with their spouse. But is today's "always connected" world making the situation better or worse? This is an area I am reading a lot about, both for my IBM job and for my personal interest.
Last week while in Florida I had my first experience traveling with my BlackBerry Pearl. Here is how I visualize the options it provided me.
The vertical black arrow is about where I think I was on the scale. My goal was to not let work take away anything from my vacation, but also do enough little things to allow myself to come back without being completely overloaded. Here was my approach:
1. Delete all "news" type of emails. I get dozens of emails a day which provide me industry related content. Normally I can spend a few hours a day reading these emails and the linked articles they contain. I decided this was a no no while on vacation, so I simply deleted all these emails without even opening them. If something Earth shattering happened in the industry while I was away, I figured I'd hear about it when I got back!
2. During downtime, respond to email from family and friends.
3. If I still had time after #2, then take a look at my work email. If there was a question I could easily answer, then I did. If the question involved any amount of research, forwarding of attachments, reviewing content, creating a presentation, etc. than I deleted it from my BlackBerry but not my server's mail file. This way it did not worry me while I was away but I could still work on it when I got back.
4. I logged onto the various chat clients during downtimes. A few minutes a day of "keeping in touch" was permitted, and welcomed since I was traveling alone.
5. I read a few blogs via the BlackBerry's browser, but certainly no where near as many as I do while at home.
6. I played Texas Hold'em on the phone when I had nothing else to do! :-)
So overall, I have to say having the BlackBerry was a nice thing. I did not have to turn on my laptop and find (and pay for) an internet connection, but I could still keep in touch with friends, family, and yes do just a bit of work.
There have been many articles and blogs written about the social effects of devices such as BlackBerrys. The most impacting to me is a recent Wall Street Journal story called BlackBerry Orphans. It discusses how the tide has turned, and now instead of parents telling their kids to stop playing video games and study, kids are telling their parents to stop looking at the Blackberry and instead spend time with them. The article contained a story were a 4 year old girl saw her mother unhappy, so she brought over her mom's BlackBerry and asked "Mommy, will this make you feel better?" Scary, very scary. I suggest you read it.
For me it comes down to one thing, Do you "work to live" or "live to work"? Personally I think "work life balance" should be changed to "life work balance". Your life should always come first, work is just a way to pay for it. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy my job. I work hard at it, and am proud of what I accomplish. But my life is about friends, family, travelling the world, playing sports, taking pictures, ........
