Even top athletes need to balance

Awhile ago I marked this article to blog about: Is the Life You're Living Worth the Price You're Paying to Live It? (Tony Schwartz, Harvard Business Review)

"What toll does it take, over time, if you get too little sleep; skip breakfast or settle for something unhealthy; struggle with a relentlessly challenging commute; attend meeting after meeting with no breaks in between; pump yourself up through the day with multiple cups of coffee or sugary snacks; deal with hundreds of emails that accumulate in your inbox; remain at your desk for lunch if you eat lunch at all; push through fatigue in the afternoon; head home at night feeling exhausted, but continue to check email through the evening; work on the weekends; and limit your vacations to no more than a week or two, if you vacation at all? ... It's not good for us, and it's not good for companies."

I know a lot of people who've experienced this, and not working in some High Powered Supa Corporation! either. In my opinion, though, if the ability to work in a reasonable manner doesn't come from the top, then your only choices are (besides continuing) to be a mediocre worker, or to find another job. Of course, you can't really go from being a top performer to a mediocre one--bosses notice things like that. As opposed to the person who was mediocre all along, and, well, keeps their job. ;-)

And I've heard every story in the book, told to perpetuate this culture. Like "Well, X person works regular hours and manages to be a high performer." (And then you talk to X and find out they're in the same boat and also burning out.) Or if someone says they can't continue this pace now that they have a family: "I so understand... though VP X has 5 kids and has no trouble balancing work and personal life." (As if they actually know anything about the VP's personal life.)

Yes, you can work a certain amount of long hours if the job is your passion, or it's your company. When I'm writing a novel I can happily work crazy hours. But there's an expectation that if you want to succeed at work, the average manager / worker has to match the energy, passion and dedication of that small handful of people for whom this is a Dream Job.

Here's some of the 159 comments from the article: (I read them so you don't have to!)

"6 years, working 80+ hours, sleeping 42, eating irregularly, exercising about 0.5 & hobbies 1 ... Mental math calc's (mult/div) began requiring increasing effort then finally a calculator; Creativity/problem solving dried out; Patch-fixes (a long sleep, gym visit, night on the town) ceased to recharge me; My excellent physical health began to deteriorate rapidly; I was becoming a not very kind person. Finally with my performance tanking, my contract wasn't continued."

"Interesting, what you said about your math skills. I distinctly remember taking my first corporate job (as an editor, ironically) and feeling like my vocabulary and ability to read and write were deteriorating."

"Same happened to me! As a sub-editor, the three things I need are: excellent eyesight, dependable concentration, perfect spelling/grammar. Last year, when I was working six days a week, I started to lose all of them. That was a bit of a wake-up call."

"Regarding expense to relationships, when I hit my fifth anniversary at a large tech company, I got a commemorative item, along with a card to give to my spouse. I still have it. It reads: "We recognize the support you have provided and the sacrifices you have made during your partner's employment with XXXX. We'd like to take this opportunity to extend our sincerest thanks." This is the stuff Dilbert comics are made of."

"I have also realized that how companies take advantage of passionate employees and always ask for more than they physically and mentally should give by hooking them with bates, and if something happens to the employee he/she just becomes a statistic however the companies move on and keep adding new blood to fuel their fire."

"I think we don't realise that we become slowly addicted to this life style.  Our self worth becomes tided not only to what we have but by how many people are demanding our time, relying on us, emailing us - needing us."

"World class athletes push themselves. World class athletes also take many breaks, focus on their diet, and their overall physical and emotional well being."

                  

Oliver Kitteh - Chapter Six: Being a chapter full of new adventures and travails

 

Oliver Kitteh - Chapter Six

Being a chapter full of new adventures and travails.

As told by Ms Brownlow (italic narration by Mabel).

Click here for chapters one, two, three, four and five.

Dear readers, 

Last we left Oliver he had been introduced to the Petco structure, and climbing over the dowels. In this week's exciting installment, we see his little attempts to climb it!

I don't think he ever quite managed to do it, but it was worth a try, right?

Well, it was very worth a try, actually, because it helped strengthen
his back legs.  It was fabric, so he could use his little claws to
hold on, and he managed to stretch up his entire length, he just never
got any higher than that at this stage.  But it was still a
accomplishment and he was impressed with himself.  I think it sort of
counted as getting off the ground.

Cats climb, right?  Oliver worked on his climbing.

You can see little back leg all stretched out!

Notice how Mamma Chloe is coaching him.

I also got him this little collapsible hut, and it's another thing that got a lot of use.

But really I wanted you to see how eager he was to head out and
explore everything that was put in his immediate area.  And I wanted
you to see how he was using his little legs.

Moving from one place to another took him a very long time, but he was
determined to check everything out and find every way to use things
that he could.  And he got stronger every day.

"Check me out, Other Mommy! Rowr!"

I don't know about you, dear readers, but I thought about little Oliver this week (and BarbN's daughter) when faced with some seemingly entrenched problems. Just focus on one part, and work work work at it, til you pass out from exhaustion. That is what I reminded myself. (As opposed to the lessons I learn from my Haley, such as "If someone stands in your way, cut 'em. That's what claws are for." Or "If something's too hard to do, annoy your hue-mahn until they do it for you.")


     

My apples

I figured my best tribute to Steve Jobs would be mostly pictorial. My dad isn't a computer-programming type computer geek, but he always liked computers and when it came to Apple he was an Early Adopter. So I associate my writing with Apple computers--they embody a lot of good memories for me.

I think this was our first computer - the Apple II C ? (My dad can correct me.)

Played a lot of Olympics game.

 At one point in early high school we had two computers in our computer room--my brother taught himself some programming on one, and starting in grade 7 I wrote stories on the other. But I don't remember which computers those were.

 My dad bought the first Macintosh. It's so cute! We lurved the drawing program.

 Remember when you could only open one window/program at a time?

Somewhere in high school the folks bought me an electric typewriter, so I wrote a lot of books on typewriter too. And when I stayed with my mum each summer, I used her typewriter.

Meanwhile my dad had a Macintosh Plus, which I used when he wasn't. 

And at some point in grade 11 I had a little second hand computer in my room, but I can't remember what it was. Pretty sure I have some stories on floppy disk that never got transferred over.

I think I inherited the Mac Plus when my dad got the first laptop, so I wrote tons of stories on that, plus my college papers.

I can't remember which computer I had when I moved out, near the end of my BA. But I definitely did my English BA all on a computer.

The first computer that I bought with my money was a second hand LC III.

My first new computer was the second generation of imacs, paid for with a bonus from work when I was first a manager. I used the heck out of that little thing--tons of stories, some Nanowrimo, and my first BA. My foster sister has it now, just for music and photos.

For my MA we bought a laptop, the first Macbook Pro. 

The money came from the extra shifts my husband was doing at the time. And in return it was our first Warcraft compatible computer.

My desk. Why is there a pillow on my desk?

 :-)   Nombly!

It's still my current computer (5 years old! That's like 80 in computer years.)

My second hand ipod, a gift from my brother.

Terrible battery life, but I replaced it myself using a third party battery, so it works nicely now. When it's at home it's hooked up to my kitchen stereo.

Fernando's first computer, inherited from my brother when he went laptop. (That's my brother's first generation imac in the background. Had to convince Fernando to part with it, poor little thing was so oldly.)

And the latest addition to our Apple family, my wee iPad 2.  

Should help me put off buying a new computer for awhile.

 So thank-you Steve Jobs for years and years of computer enjoyment. It's hard to imagine any other way of living now!