I believe it was Confucius that once said “Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life again”. How many of us can say that this is so? I know I personally can. I never dreamed it would be possible to incorporate my love for PR with my passion for health and wellness. But I have, and in doing so, I feel I can honestly say Confucius you were right. And I hope everyone gets to feel this one-day too!
Today, more and more of us are viewing our job as being a separate part of our lives. It’s almost as though our work and lives don’t meet and when you walk through those office doors, your life is temporarily over. That’s close to (if not more than) 42 hours a week that you think you aren’t living.
On top of that it’s hard to not come past an article that talks about work being a drag. We are constantly faced with social posts that count down to Friday (yes, weekends are the bomb) or dreading Monday. I actually feel sorry for poor Monday (thank god the Adams Family went with Wednesday). It gets a bad wrap. When you love what you do, Mondays are NEVER that bad. They are exciting and they fill you with optimism for the week ahead.
With our working week holding the majority share, shouldn’t we try to shift our focus on bringing positive energy, good vibes and down right love of what we do into our workplace?
Now lets get technical, with a little tip introduced to us by Vanessa Bennett, CEO of Next Evolution Performance. Vanessa introduced us to the notion of work-life integration. Key word being integration, not balance.
The definition of balance is “to evenly distribute weight enabling someone or something to remain upright and steady”. Another definition talks about balance (in work and life) as being an equilibrium of opposing forces.
Integration on the other hand is the simultaneous action of work and life. And it’s as simple as that.
Spending 8 hours a day glued to your computer might be productive for some, but not all. Finding unique, flexible ways of working brings greater joy to your day and potentially greater productivity.
So what sparked us to write this blog? We saw a recent article in Sporteluxe talking about the benefits of an office bestie, and we couldn’t agree more. At Straight Up PR, we are more than just an office or a team… we are family. And we all equally love what we do and feel all the vibes that Confucius is putting out there. So as our love and passion drives us through our working day, the notion of needing someone to get you through seems off-kilter. Instead we see it as having someone to enjoy all the little moments with. The good, the hard, the challenging, the rewarding. Life is always better lived with someone by your side!
So, if you’re that person who dreads Monday and lets the world know about it every Sunday night, open your eyes to the endless possibilities of work life integration. Ask your boss if you can work from home in the morning and get to the office later, so that you miss Sydney’s terrible peak hour traffic. The best thing about work life integration is that if it’s done properly, it’s effortless. And when it’s effortless, doing what you love never feels like a job.
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