Is it work life integration or work life balance…?
If you were to ask me, I would say I have integrated my life with work vs. trying to separate and balance the two.
At Function what I appreciate the most is the TRUST that is bestowed upon me to get my work done and done well. I work from home full-time and though at times it can be isolating to not be able to peek over the cubical wall and chat with my colleagues, the real benefit is that I have been handed a level of trust that I will never take for granted. The moment I start to take advantage of this is the moment my performance will start to fall… or at least that how it feels in my mind. This hunger to maintain my trust levels is what fuels me as a full time remote employee to keep performing at a high level.
Ultimately this trust has given me the freedom to live where I want, save money, keep the dog company, and even chase passions like surfing.
I love doing QA and sprint planning while at the same time I am doing a few loads of laundry. If I have a long call and I know I am not going to be sharing anything, I can listen in and fold that laundry (my least favorite house hold chore). These are just basic examples of how I integrate life with work.
If there is a killer swell coming in on a Wednesday, I have the ability to shift my schedule, move some calls and go chase those waves. Good waves are rare in New England so I try to get to them when and where I can. When this happens I might for instance work from 8am – 3pm drive 45 min to the beach and enjoy my self and the freedoms that come from working from home. When I am done surfing and I am back home, I make sure I put those 2 to 3 more hours in that evening or the following morning just so I don’t fall behind. If I am going to take off a few hours early, my laptop is always in my car, and I even have a cellular enabled iPad and Apple Watch if I need to respond to issues while on the go. Working in this day and age of mobile technology really has its advantages J
There is a dark side… at least for me.
The dark side to this, is very similar to the dark side of having “unlimited vacation.” you don’t always take advantage of it. When the stakes are high or a deadline might be missed I can find my self-working more hours then might actually be healthy. I can even feel guilty that I’m not doing enough even if I’ve put in multiple 13 hour days. The best thing is to be is self aware, and to make sure you find sometime to decompress with someone or something you love.
In the technology world the old saying is you work 5 days a week but are on call 24/7. Issues come up and we have to always have a plan to react and deal with these. Just because it’s a weekend does not mean my websites aren’t running. Work will always be there and there is always something that needs to be done, fixed, or improved. This I why I believe, at least in the tech industry, you have to blend work into your regular day to day life as opposed to just shutting it off entirely at 5pm. If you’re creative, and you know how to prioritize what needs to be done, you can integrate work into your life while still living a healthy lifestyle.
Once you get good at it, you might be able to go catch a wave or 2 or 5 or 10 and maybe just one more.