Work-Life Balance

This "myth" of a concept has been a buzz-word among HR departments and third-party recruiters for years now. But like God, love, gender and sarcasm, it inexplicably defies universal definition.

Most of us interpret it from a time-anchored point of view. Basically, we evaluate how well we do in this department by asking ourselves how many hours we spend at work, at play and at sleep. Then we mentally check the percentages against our own projected targets and we either feel good or bad about ourselves. Now this interpretation is blasphemy to the ears of slave-driving organizations (uhm, like all of them) and thus they have formed a supergroup of PR specialists to make sure that we don't see it that way (this are the same spin doctors responsible for the "money is not everything" propaganda). But since we love our job security more than our personal dignity, we need to explore other interpretations of Work-Life Balance...

A good alternative to the above-mentioned is to see it as "Compartmentalization". Simply speaking, this paradigm offers the metaphor that we are cabinets, bags, and Japanese cars with many different and exclusive storage spaces or (sic) compartments. Here we store the different facets, priorities, values and activities in our lives where they do not interfere with each other. For instance, you may "separate" your faith from your politics and from your love-life and social life (as you should) thus, giving you a secularly-compartmentalized life. Or you can swear upon your grandmother's grave that you will never have any sexual interaction with your co-workers and in the process "separate" your sex-life from your work. The beauty of this approach (the reason why it is endorsed by corporate suits) is that it does not in anyway have considerations for time and money - the two things we want from them the most but will never get. On the upside, you can claim that you "don't care" much about cash or, say sardonically that "sleep is for the weak". Idiot.

So I offer a new, refreshingly radical approach that is guaranteed to trump the first two. It's called the What The Fuck Just Screw It method. It involves, among others, not planning your schedule, playing harder than you work, and doing things as you deem necessary. Eventually, things will fall into place on their own and you will find that you will always have time for the things that you really love. This way of seeing things is based on the principle that we work to live, definitely not the other way around. Your work is your source of resouces that will enable you to do what you think is important -- be it buying expensive things, saving for the future, starting a family or even eating exclusively at all-you-can-eat buffets.

I defy you to liberate yourselves from your oppressors (your selves) and live life the way you think it should be lived. All it takes is to say, "What the fuck? Just screw it..." everytime somebody talks about Work-Life Balance.

Peace.

PS. If you take this the wrong way, it's either you're stupid or you're gullible.