Work Life Balance vs. Flow

'John Hope Franklin, the distinguished historian, said, "You could say that I worked every minute of my life, or you could say with equal justice that I never worked a day. I have always subscribed to the expression 'Thank God it's Friday,' because to me Friday means I can work for the next two days without interruption." It misses the mark to see Professor Franklin as a workaholic. Rather, he gives voice to a common sentiment among high-powered academics and bussinesspeoplle that is worse looking at closely. Franklin spent his Mondays through Fridays as a professor, and there is every reason to think he was good at it: teaching, administration, scholarship, and colleagueship all went very well. These call on some of Franklin's strengths - kindness and leadership - but they do not call enough on his signature strengths: originality and love of learning. There is more flow at home, reading and writing, than at work because the opportunity to use his very highest strength is greatest on weekends.'
- Pg 175 'Authentic Happiness' Martin Seligman

I think getting work-life balance is essential if you don't like your job. Having made the painful mistake of watching 'Revolutionary Road' last night... that movie illustrated that eloquently, and kicked me in the stomach a few times.

Even better though is if the job you choose plays to your strengths... then the concept of work-life balance falls to pieces as it becomes difficult to distinguish between the two.

Seligman talks of studies which look at flow:

'Games and hobbies are active and produce flow 39 percent of the time, and produce negative apathy 17 percent of the time. Watching television and listening to music, in contrast, are passive and produce flow only 17 percent of the time while producing apathy 37 percent of the time. The mood state Americans are in, on average, when watching television is mildly depressed. So there is a great deal to be said for active as oppossed to passive use of our time. As [Csikszentmihalyi] reminds us, "Gregor Mendel did his famous genetic experiments as a hobby; Benjamin Franklin was led by interest, not a job description, to grind lenses and experiment with lightning rods; and Emily Dickinson wrote her superb poetry to create order in her own life."

It is easy to be cynical about this kind of thing though. Awesome, do a job that you love. Great advice, but for most mere mortals all jobs have bits that you don't enjoy. The idea that 'Some of the time I do what I want to, the rest of the time I do what I have to'. More than likely that is true. I have a sneaky suspicion though that if you are prepared to really put the effort in and attack the tasks you dislike with vigour, and eye out a goal... you can get closer to flow based work.

It is also a reason that I prefer the idea of working towards 'Financial Independence' rather than 'Retirement'. The first implies less of a requirement to balance work and life and more a focus on increasing flow. The second implies a degree of giving up.