Work-Life Balance: A Story

Storify is an easy-to-use tool for weaving together story threads from across the web. It lets you pull in snippets of content from Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and other channels and re-assemble them into a rich narrative.

I used Storify to curate a conversation about work-life balance that unfolded on Twitter this morning. The central characters are my friends Genevieve Jooste, Mike McBride, Bo Hussey, Bill Voth and Brad Panovich. Enjoy!

  • Amy DeLouise

    You ask a lot of terrific questions, Scott.  First of all I don’t believe in work-life balance because it implies, well, balance. I experience it more as a see-saw. Sometimes Life gets the focus–an anniversary dinner, I’m singing with my a cappella group, the kids are front and center. Sometimes it’s work work work. But I think a very different question is abuse of employees’ time by employers (or in my case clients) simply because the technology is there to reach them 24/7. I don’t think a 16-hour workday is any more valid now than it was when Dickens complained about it a couple of centuries ago.

  • http://mediaemerging.com Scott Hepburn

    A see-saw might be a better analogy, Amy — the “balance” tends to tip back and forth, doesn’t it?

    Abuse of your time by clients or employers is a tricky issue. We’re so afraid to lose a job or lose a client that we often fail to set reasonable expectations and boundaries. The cold reality is a competitive market chock full of people who can replace us…which is where that fear comes from.

    If you do good work, most clients will respect reasonable boundaries and expectations — if you’re firm, fair and consistent. Heck, they might even respect you more for it! And if they don’t…if they dump you for someone more willing to submit to their every whim…you’re better off.

    Thanks for sharing your perspective!