Funny. Life is Still the Same. Ish.

Last night was Passover – when Jews from all over the world and their friends remember our history as slaves and celebrate our freedom.

Now – of course I understand that my life is mountains better than my bondaged ancestors. I’m not that deluded.

But, at our Seder last night, we were asked to role play (something I truly abhor) and my character was that of a Jewish slave woman in Egypt. The description looked something like this:

You work 12 hour days working with all different kinds of people that you don’t know, doing hard labor that is sometimes demeaning around people that can make you feel uncomfortable. Then, you go home & have to perform wifely duties such as cooking, cleaning, mending, caring for family & ‘stuff’ to please your spouse….

At first I was annoyed. Dare I say, bratty. How could I know how this woman feels? cough, cough. Let’s break this down, shall we?

• You work 12 hour days (Yes. Yes, I do.)
• …working with all different kinds of people that you don’t know (Today we call that ‘working virtually’)
• …doing hard labor that is sometimes demeaning (As in writing about the benefits of mobile dry cleaning or cheap land in the Bahamas? Yes, but hey, I’m supporting my family here!)
• …around people that can make you feel uncomfortable (Uh huh – spammers on Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn and in my email box and in my blog comments – talking about how size does matter and helps you get the girl)
• …Then, you go home & have to perform wifely duties such as cooking, cleaning, mending, caring for family & ‘stuff’ to please your spouse….(Okay, the ‘stuff’ isn’t so bad, but the rest of it bites)

Holy shit! I AM a Jewish slave woman!

Besides the fact that I have chosen every beautiful moment in my life…and love it. Still…I love a good Kvetch. Don’t you?

Image courtesy of Irargerich

Filed under News, The Business | Tags: copywriter, copywriting, freelance writer, Julie Roads, passover, small business owner, work life balance, Writing Roads | Comments (7)

work/life what???

I just attended a fantastic talk given by Karol Rose of FlexPaths, a company that works with employees and employers to figure out what flexibility means in the workplace and how to offer it and live it so that it works for everyone. Their story is an inspired one of 4 women coming together synergistically to create and enforce a new paradigm in the world of work. Karol is a gifted speaker who calls herself the ‘grandma with a tech startup’…and she wears it well.

But what struck me the deepest was her statement, and belief, that there is no such thing as work/life balance. Her working phrase is work/life effectiveness. She maintains that the concept of work/life balance is a myth – a terrorizing, set-you-up-to-fail, myth (my descriptors). They will never be balanced because they are always shifting and moving. On Tuesday when your kid gets the chicken pox or is in the little league championships, the scale tips to life. On Wednesday when you have a presentation and 4 deadlines, the scale tips to work. No amount of planning can secure a set schedule, or an actual balance.

So the key is work/life effectiveness. Karol mentioned – and it was not news to me – that when I’m effective or successful (or even present) at home, I’m effective, successful and present at work. When I’m productive, satisfied and elated at work, so I am at home. They feed each other and they have to. But they aren’t balanced, they just lean up against each other…and create direct effects.

I don’t work in a corporate setting. I don’t have a team of, or even one, assistant to take over for me when life moves in with gale force…or even when my family decides they want me to go on vacation. This whole concept of work/life balance probably causes me the most stress of all. But when I heard that I didn’t have to achieve work/life balance -just had to be effective at all that I do as it slides, tilts and twirls – my shoulders let go of my ears, and I exhaled (a little bit).

What works for you? Balance? Effectiveness? or a new concept altogether?

Filed under Myth or Reality, The Business | Tags: blog marketing, copywriting, family, FlexPath, freelance copywriter, Julie Roads, Karol Rose, Marketing, work, work life balance, Writing Roads | Comments (11)