4 ms·

The headline makes article feels incomplete. We are told why the life side of the equation is important without any real mention of the value of work. It feel

by slg 5y ago

The headline makes article feels incomplete. We are told why the life side of the equation is important without any real mention of the value of work. It feels like the conclusion I am supposed to come to is that the balance is easy as work should always defer to life. Why shouldn't I put in the minimum amount of effort into work that gets me to a comfortable lifestyle outside of work?

elliotec 5y ago
Maybe you should! Sometimes that's still a lot of work though. And sometimes for some people, the lines between life and work are pretty blurry.
lostcolony 5y ago
"Why shouldn't I put in the minimum amount of effort into work that gets me to a comfortable lifestyle outside of work?" I agree. Why shouldn't you? I've never heard anyone say "I wish I'd put more time and effort into work". I -have- heard "I wish I was paid more", and if effort equates to that (from all observations of my career, I remain unconvinced) I can see that changing your minimum (i.e., from "minimum required to not get fired" to "minimum required to get to the next level"), but going above and beyond that minimum doesn't extrinsically affect you. So if intrinsically you value 'life' more than 'work' there...better to take that time/effort and put it into life. This article just made it clear how ephemeral work meaning is, and how important life meaning is, and how important it is to subjugate the former to the latter. Which I agree, seems at odds with the title.
ravitation 5y ago
I don't know if it really feels incomplete, instead the article seems to make a more compelling case for the opposite of the headline actually being true. If we assume the following premise from the article is true... > The only way balancing is going to be easy is if one or the other side isn’t worth much, and that would be a shame. The article makes a much more compelling case that the life side is worth quite a lot, and the work side isn't worth much... Meaning work/life balance should be easy.
d23 5y ago
I can't make sense of this article. Did the dad stop working as much? Keep on working as much? Work more? The intro makes it seem like he learned to work less, but then the rest makes it seem like he didn't.
alistairSH 5y ago
Why shouldn't I put in the minimum amount of effort into work that gets me to a comfortable lifestyle outside of work? Indeed. If we assume "work" is doing something you wouldn't otherwise do, then absolutely, you should be asking that question. And for most people, that's likely true of almost any employment.
chasd00 5y ago
i can't remember who said it but there's a quote that goes "no one ever said on their death bed 'i wish i would have spent more time at the office'"

by slg 5y ago

elliotec 5y ago

Maybe you should! Sometimes that's still a lot of work though. And sometimes for some people, the lines between life and work are pretty blurry.

lostcolony 5y ago

"Why shouldn't I put in the minimum amount of effort into work that gets me to a comfortable lifestyle outside of work?" I agree. Why shouldn't you? I've never heard anyone say "I wish I'd put more time and effort into work". I -have- heard "I wish I was paid more", and if effort equates to that (from all observations of my career, I remain unconvinced) I can see that changing your minimum (i.e., from "minimum required to not get fired" to "minimum required to get to the next level"), but going above and beyond that minimum doesn't extrinsically affect you. So if intrinsically you value 'life' more than 'work' there...better to take that time/effort and put it into life. This article just made it clear how ephemeral work meaning is, and how important life meaning is, and how important it is to subjugate the former to the latter. Which I agree, seems at odds with the title.

ravitation 5y ago

I don't know if it really feels incomplete, instead the article seems to make a more compelling case for the opposite of the headline actually being true. If we assume the following premise from the article is true... > The only way balancing is going to be easy is if one or the other side isn’t worth much, and that would be a shame. The article makes a much more compelling case that the life side is worth quite a lot, and the work side isn't worth much... Meaning work/life balance should be easy.

d23 5y ago

I can't make sense of this article. Did the dad stop working as much? Keep on working as much? Work more? The intro makes it seem like he learned to work less, but then the rest makes it seem like he didn't.

alistairSH 5y ago

Why shouldn't I put in the minimum amount of effort into work that gets me to a comfortable lifestyle outside of work? Indeed. If we assume "work" is doing something you wouldn't otherwise do, then absolutely, you should be asking that question. And for most people, that's likely true of almost any employment.

chasd00 5y ago

i can't remember who said it but there's a quote that goes "no one ever said on their death bed 'i wish i would have spent more time at the office'"