4 ms·

So you're saying you want to make your work your life? How about "my work is my life," or "I'm married to my job?"

Kinnard 9y ago
I don't buy the dichotomy between work and life, and maybe those ideas should be thrown out altogether. The whole notion of 'work' is flawed.
- creepydata 9y ago
  No it isn't, "work" is what I do because I have to and "life" is everything else. I have no idea what sort of response you're looking for.
  - Kinnard 9y ago
    That's how you feel. Not everyone else does. There's a pretty compelling quote from the first chapter of The Fifth Discipline: "There is also another, in some ways deeper, movement toward learning organizations, part of the evolution of industrial society. Material affluence for the majority has gradually shifted people’s orientation toward work— from what Daniel Yankelovich called an “instrumental” view of work, where work was a means to an end, to a more “sacred” view, where people seek the “intrinsic” benefits of work. “Our grandfathers worked six days a week to earn what most of us now earn by Tuesday afternoon,” says Bill O’Brien, former CEO of Hanover Insurance. “The ferment in management will continue until we build organizations that are more consistent with man’s higher aspirations beyond food, shelter and belonging. Moreover, many who share these values are now in leadership positions. I find a growing number of organizational leaders who, while still a minority, feel they are part of a profound evolution in the nature of work as a social institution. “Why can’t we do good works at work?”" Senge, Peter M. (2010-03-25). The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization (pp. 4-5). The Doubleday Religious Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
    - jlangemeier 9y ago
      This doesn't really answer the main question that is being asked of you by a variety of people: What, in general terms, are you looking to define or accomplish when you're talking about an "Alternative to work/life balance?" Are you talking about altruism through the office, or is it more about time-spent between the work and the rest of life? What goal, are you looking to accomplish with this, or any, alternative? The general premise of work-life balance is finding a level of deference between the thing that makes you money and the things you get to do with that money when not attempting the goal of making the money. This interest in a different motivating factor, "good works at work," while noble is NOT an alternative to work-life balance, but a supplement. Investment in your "higher calling" may be with your church group, volunteering, donations, etc; and some offices do community outreach as parts of their team processes, but I'm not seeing it as a direct alternative to work-life balance. If YOU are wanting to motivate YOUR work through a higher purpose or need, then by all means go ahead. You're given the station to do so through the income that you are afforded through your work. But I'm very much NOT motivated to donate my time to some corporate goal of altruism, because a corporation doesn't do anything for free.
      - Kinnard 9y ago
        I don't define work as 'the thing that makes you money' or life as 'the things you get to do with that money when not attempting the goal of making the money'. Many people continue to work after they've made enough money to satisfy their needs and be comfortable hundreds of times over. (E.g. Elon Musk) But it's not limited to those people: many people do lots of work that doesn't earn any money and lots of people earn money without doing any work. Lots of people start another company after a successful exit, and I'd bet their motivation is not 'the goal of making money'. I reject those definitions. This is the sort of thinking I believe no longer works. Or at least doesn't work for me. I'm inquiring about alternatives to this.
        BlackLink16 9y ago
        If you want to work for the sake of what you are doing and not the material gain, then it's your calling or passion.

I don't buy the dichotomy between work and life, and maybe those ideas should be thrown out altogether. The whole notion of 'work' is flawed.

creepydata 9y ago
No it isn't, "work" is what I do because I have to and "life" is everything else. I have no idea what sort of response you're looking for.
- Kinnard 9y ago
  That's how you feel. Not everyone else does. There's a pretty compelling quote from the first chapter of The Fifth Discipline: "There is also another, in some ways deeper, movement toward learning organizations, part of the evolution of industrial society. Material affluence for the majority has gradually shifted people’s orientation toward work— from what Daniel Yankelovich called an “instrumental” view of work, where work was a means to an end, to a more “sacred” view, where people seek the “intrinsic” benefits of work. “Our grandfathers worked six days a week to earn what most of us now earn by Tuesday afternoon,” says Bill O’Brien, former CEO of Hanover Insurance. “The ferment in management will continue until we build organizations that are more consistent with man’s higher aspirations beyond food, shelter and belonging. Moreover, many who share these values are now in leadership positions. I find a growing number of organizational leaders who, while still a minority, feel they are part of a profound evolution in the nature of work as a social institution. “Why can’t we do good works at work?”" Senge, Peter M. (2010-03-25). The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization (pp. 4-5). The Doubleday Religious Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
  - jlangemeier 9y ago
    This doesn't really answer the main question that is being asked of you by a variety of people: What, in general terms, are you looking to define or accomplish when you're talking about an "Alternative to work/life balance?" Are you talking about altruism through the office, or is it more about time-spent between the work and the rest of life? What goal, are you looking to accomplish with this, or any, alternative? The general premise of work-life balance is finding a level of deference between the thing that makes you money and the things you get to do with that money when not attempting the goal of making the money. This interest in a different motivating factor, "good works at work," while noble is NOT an alternative to work-life balance, but a supplement. Investment in your "higher calling" may be with your church group, volunteering, donations, etc; and some offices do community outreach as parts of their team processes, but I'm not seeing it as a direct alternative to work-life balance. If YOU are wanting to motivate YOUR work through a higher purpose or need, then by all means go ahead. You're given the station to do so through the income that you are afforded through your work. But I'm very much NOT motivated to donate my time to some corporate goal of altruism, because a corporation doesn't do anything for free.
    - Kinnard 9y ago
      I don't define work as 'the thing that makes you money' or life as 'the things you get to do with that money when not attempting the goal of making the money'. Many people continue to work after they've made enough money to satisfy their needs and be comfortable hundreds of times over. (E.g. Elon Musk) But it's not limited to those people: many people do lots of work that doesn't earn any money and lots of people earn money without doing any work. Lots of people start another company after a successful exit, and I'd bet their motivation is not 'the goal of making money'. I reject those definitions. This is the sort of thinking I believe no longer works. Or at least doesn't work for me. I'm inquiring about alternatives to this.
      - BlackLink16 9y ago
        If you want to work for the sake of what you are doing and not the material gain, then it's your calling or passion.