I am sure that you have heard that variety is the spice of life. Well, balance is a synonym and rightfully so. I hear “work – life” quite a bit these days and do not disagree in principle, but I think that we are looking at it the wrong way. Instead of pushing for change in how we, as employees, are managed, we should be managing ourselves. There is great freedom in the choice of how you live your life, and that includes work.

I am not saying you should go in to work tomorrow and tell off your boss. I am just saying that YOU can take more control of how you perform your duties, especially if you are a salary worker. I, one among many, get a yearly salary and have a bonus structure in place that pays out against certain performance indicators. In theory, I could work ten hours a week and still get full salary if my objectives are met. In practice, it is a little more difficult and if you have a good manager, they will know that you are not working to your capacity, which may be very different than others.

However, you DO have control. Work is part of your life, whether you want to admit it or not. In our beloved capitalist society, we have the freedom to chose our path and have many opportunities to better ourselves. Unfortunately, many of us do not fully understand how to get to where we want to go and how to start, me included. I can not tell you how to succeed, because I am still working on it myself!  🙂

What you can control is the level of pleasure you get from your job. You should have fun at work every day. You should enjoy the people you work with and feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day, or at least at the end of the month! If you are not having fun, do not like the people and have no idea why you are there, LEAVE. There is plenty of work out there and if you can not find anything to your liking, you have many avenues to explore in creating your own. This last option is VERY interesting to me. The sense of ownership gives you more desire to succeed and the intimate knowledge you will develop will certainly drive new passion in to your life. Lastly, it will become your LIFE, and you will want it to be.

Be brave souls and try something new. Make your own path and be happy. Nobody else will do it for you. You have to want it for yourself and success will follow in one form or another.

Stay interested and interesting!

John

PS: This post was written while listening to Ratatat. It is instrumental, but very upbeat. I think you will either love it or hate it. Try it though, because you will never know otherwise. 😉