I wish I could tell you that what I'm about to say is the product of the last few weeks, but in actual fact it's the product of the last few years - 5 of them to be exact.
Since I went out on my own, I slowly but surely chipped away at the boundaries between work and life. My work became my life and my life was my work. Don't get me wrong, I was still a husband and a father (3 times now!), but there was the problem of not being present even though I was around...not to mention not being around much because of all the travel.
I compared myself to my former self (the corporate self) and applauded the fact I was "always on", "always reachable". With a cellphone, Blackberry, iPhone, Skype forwarding etc...I was reachable wherever and whenever. Why?
I prided myself on the ability to respond to a blog post or comment within seconds of receiving my Google Alert. Why?
When I was in another time zone, I would find myself waking up at 5am (or constantly being woken up by that annoying Blackberry buzz) because it happened to be 9am in New York and e-mails were coming through thick and fast. And it just was so important to be able to receive those erectile dysfunction mails in "real time", right?
I can't tell you how many times I've been with my family or out to dinner and I happened to read an e-mail which contained something that totally shifted my mood or at the very minimum, distracted me from what was really important...spending quality time with friends and family.
Working for yourself is one of the most empowering acts that anyone can ever do in their lives. But the danger of a 5 day week becoming a 7 day week is very real - especially with all this rampant access and technology that surrounds us all.
Whilst I might have been critical of 9-to-5'ers, or corporate execs that take their full vacation, Summer Fridays, marginal holidays and fill their schedules with enough padding of unnecessary meetings (with a commitment objective of having another meeting), there is a lot to be said for "working smarter, not harder"
Ultimately this is me facing an addiction of sorts - the always-on addiction - and acknowledging that balance and equilibrium rule over any form of extremity (being too connected and/or not being connected enough)
I'm going to attempt to implement a self-help regime, with these initial/baby steps designed to help me get back the "life" component into the dominant "work" part of my daily grind.
I'm not going to be unrealistic. Some things will never change, but I certainly can do my part to cut down on the computer being "always-on", checking e-mail on the weekends (will perhaps just 3 times a day on the weekends), being the first to switch on my iPhone when the plane lands etc.
Between 6.30-7.30pm when I'm home now the computer is going to be turned off, Blogging and Podcasting will take a chill pill - hey, it's R.S.S., baby - Facebook will have to take a backseat and and Twitter can go get stuffed (you don't need to know what I'm doing with my family...it's none of your damn business!)
Is there a lesson in all of this for brand marketers? Probably and probably not. On the one hand, "response and responsiveness" remain critical - now more than ever. But not at the expense of balance. Sure customers want a quick response - preferably by a human and preferably within 24 hours - but I think they'd prefer a great response (comprehensive, thorough, complete, adequate) compared to a response for the sake of it.
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