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The Business of Life
| Guest post by: Keith Hanna |
Article Overview: There is much more to life than working to make money.
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Free Download - Lag Time By Keith Hanna |
The Business of Life
Many of us are overworked and struggle
through life under a burden of tremendous stress, living lives in a state
Thoreau would call “quiet desperation.”
Indeed, as humanity has evolved through the
industrial and information ages, new technologies designed to make life easier
have made it more complicated. In the last 50 years women have entered the
workforce and have been working to juggle the pressures of career and family.
Men have had their challenges as well, as they have been working to break out
of 1950s stereotypes and make bigger contributions to child rearing and home
making.
Life has become so complex that most families
require two wage earners to manage the large debt loads and high living
expenses. We get up early, get the kids to school, work hard all day to pay the
mortgage, a couple of car leases, the gas and electricity bill, pick the kids
up from school, get dinner made, make sure all the homework and housework gets
done, maybe watch a few favorite shows and get to bed. After a few hours of
sketchy sleep, we repeat the whole experience. Weekends fade into an endless
drone of more work weeks and the annual holiday comes and goes, making only a
small dent in the strain.
Work is the dominant part of most of our
waking lives. Despite most people claiming that family, health and leisure are
most important to them, work, by measure of time, money and energy committed,
appears to be the priority. This precarious post-modern predicament has led
many people to the search of greater balance in life.
Balance is a seriously misunderstood concept.
The flaw in many attempts to create life balance is a common misconception in
the mythical idea of “work/life balance.” It is not acceptable for most people
to simply make a linear reduction in the amount of time they spend on the job
to make space other activities. The demands there are too great. It is
impossible to get control over my time and energy if I divorce “work” from
“life,” creating artificial boundaries and placing each on either side of an
artificial scale.
There is much more to life than working to
make money. A portfolio is a better metaphor for balance than two items on
either end of a scale. In a life portfolio, just as in a financial portfolio,
all components work together in harmony. Every investment of time, energy and
money I make, say, in my health or in my marriage or leisure time might seem to
reduce work resources already under strain, but this is the paradox that traps
most people into a miserable fate. Balance requires a leap of faith.
A balanced life is one where we treat each
part of our lives with the same respect and focus as we do our work. Every
investment I make in one part of life returns me to work in a more relaxed and
creative space, empowering me get my work done in less time and at a higher
level of quality, and in turn creating more resources to invest other parts of
my life. This is the business of life.
Action Step: : Draw a wheel with 10 spokes.
Label each spoke as one part of your life portfolio: financial independence,
meaningful work, romantic partnership, harmonious family, supportive
friendships, community contribution, healthy lifestyle, fulfilling leisure,
lifelong learning, spiritual practice. Mark a place on each spoke to indicate
how well that part of your life is working: close to the centre is poor;
farther out is excellent. Complete the circle by connecting the dots. How well
your wheel would roll indicates your balance level; its diameter indicates your
fulfillment level. Pick one of the shorter spokes and make a commitment to
creating more fulfillment in that area. Any work you do in that area will
enhance your fulfillment in all other areas.
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Article Tags: life, stress, working
Referred by: http://www.infinity-pr.com
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Related Forum Posts
The Second Life Platform
- Greetings! I'm not sure how many of you have heard of or are sensitive to Second Life and its related entities. However, Second Life is a fantastic platform to mimmick real life business operations in a real currency based economy. There are plenty of successful stories for creative individuals, but I'd highly suggest doing your research and appreciating Second Life for what it is, and what it isn't.
My entry
- 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read
- this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody.
2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto.
3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book
Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Re: The Second Life Platform
- [quote="JBunion":fhe23fsu]Greetings! I'm not sure how many of you have heard of or are sensitive to Second Life and its related entities. However, Second Life is a fantastic platform to mimmick real life business operations in a real currency based economy. There are plenty of successful stories for creative individuals, but I'd highly suggest doing your research and appreciating Second Life for what it is, and what it isn't.[/quote:fhe23fsu]
Hi JBunion,
I've heard about the site. So are you currently a member? And more importantly, have you tried to open a store front in that virtual world?
Re: Charge what you're worth
- [quote="Tami Szabo":292ze3jd]People will pay you what you ask. Very few will ever up the price. You are the one who decided what you are worth. The key is that we believe our services are worth the price we are asking.[/quote:292ze3jd]
Hi Tami,
You're absolutely right. In "Think and Grow Rich", Jessie B. Rittenhouse says "For Life is a just employer, He gives you what you ask, But once you have set the wages, Why, you must bear the task. I worked for a menial's hire Only to learn, dismayed , That any wage I had asked of Life, Life would have willingly paid" (Napoleon Hill 35).
I think the same can be said when setting prices on eBay or Craigslist, especially when people are trying to haggle you.
Top 19 Copywriting books
- 1. Ogilvy on Advertising. David Ogilvy. Wiley.
2. Positioning: The Battle for your Mind. Al Ries and Jack Trout. Warner.
3. The New Positioning. Jack Trout. McGraw-Hill.
4. Tested Advertising Methods. John Caples. Prentice-Hall.
5. How to Make your Advertising Make Money. John Caples. Prentice-Hall.
6. Guerrilla Advertising. Jay Conrad Levinson. Houghton Mifflin.
7. Direct Mail Copy that Sells. Herschell Gordon Lewis. Prentice-Hall.
8. Sales Letters that Sizzle. Herschell Gordon Lewis. NTC Business Books.
9. Herschell Gordon Lewis on the Art of Writing Copy. Herschell Gordon Lewis. Prentice-Hall.
10. Romancing the Brand. David Martin. American Management Association.
11. The Art of Writing Advertising: Conversations with William Bernbach, Leo Burnett, George Gribbin, David Ogilvy, Rosser Reeves. NTC Business Books.
12. Confessions of an Advertising Man. David Ogilvy. NTC Business Books.
13. My Life in Advertising. Claude Hopkins. NTC Business Books.
14. Scientific Advertising. Claude Hopkins. NTC Business Books.
15. How to Become an Advertising Man. James Webb Young. NTC Business Books.
16. The Lasker Story as He Told It. NTC Business Books.
17. Advertising Concept and Copy. George Felton. Prentice Hall.
18. The Copy WorkShop Workbook. Bruce Bendinger. The Copy Workshop.
19. Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Ads. Luke Sullivan. Wiley.
This should keep you busy for at least a year.
Enjoy!
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