In last week’s Alligator News Roundup I cited the heart-warming article about the two dogs in Canada who are being trained to discern symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Ivy and Callie, a Golden Retriever and a German Shepherd-Belgian Malinois mix, respectively, respond to the hormones exhaled in human breath to predict the onset of a PTSD episode.
When the girls succeed, they get a treat. Long live the treat!
Play, not work
The trainer pointed out that for the canines, this was play, not work. Despite the psychological damage done by whatever brought about the human’s PTSD condition, both animals love the play. And, of course, the treats.
It started me thinking. I walked out of a senior sales management job more than 10 years ago after a 36-year career with a major corporation. Some of my assignments through the decades had been less fun than others, but from about 1985 on, it was enormously rewarding. Exhilarating is not too strong a word.
Complicated? Yes. Demanding? All the time. Stressful? Absolutely.
And did I enjoy vacations? Well… give me a minute… let me think…
:-(
Yes, of course I did! The change of pace was a welcome relief. And afterward, I was also glad to get back to the routine of the job.
I enjoyed my work in the way that a carpenter enjoys seeing the finished product. A friend who is quite good with home remodels, says: “When I finish whatever the project was, it takes me longer to walk around and inspect my work than it took to build it in the first place.”
Over-thinking your work
I observe some troubling trends in 21st Century America as concerns what we are now calling our “work-life balance.”
An associate of mine runs a small business. One of his office clerks leaves her desk for a necessary trip to the restroom, taking her smart phone along. She is gone for nearly an hour. This is becoming a daily occurrence. It is indelicate to broach the subject, but there seems to be no physical or medical condition requiring such an extended absence.
Of course not; it is pretty clear what’s up: She is on her phone, surfing the web, texting, playing a game; whatever. The bathroom is sacrosanct, for good reason, and she knows this.
The business owner is considering a local jamming device to kill the cell phone signal, if such a thing can be had.
It’s just work. Be glad you have it.
Working a job where you desperately try to avoid the work is deadly to your self-respect. On the other hand, so is accepting the myth that you have worked so hard and so effectively that, in the words of the McDonald’s commercial, “You deserve a break today!”
We each probably deserve a lot worse than that, but the notion that somehow, “Someone owes me a long vacation!” is an easy lie to accept.
Who exactly owes me is unclear. Clarity strikes when I get the credit card bill for the vacation I could not afford.
Many have recently weighed in on the subject of work-life balance:
Harvard Business Review: Work-life balance should be been as a cycle rather than an achievement. We should pause and reflect, say the authors, on our emotional well-being and priorities. They also say that Americans generally refuse to take the time for such reflection.
Ness Labs: Some suggest that “work is bad and life is good.” It implies that the two are opposites, and that somehow less work makes more happiness.
Jeff Bezos, of Amazon fame: Work-life balance is “a debilitating phrase because it implies there’s a strict trade-off.” Better, he says, to see “work” and “life outside of work” as a circle rather than a balancing act.
“Balance” is a self-conscious concept
I get a little short of patience with the modern fixation on the distinction between “work” and “life.” We each get 168 hours every week, and everything on the plate has to be done. We focus on everything: Projects at work, lazy associates, unreasonable customers, stressed bosses, unreliable suppliers, urgent home repairs, unpaid bills, sick kids, stressed spouse…
Just make it work, and don’t fall for the line that you’re something special. Our species has been dealing with this since the first day Adam planted a row of corn outside the Garden of Eden. Prioritize, plan, make to-do lists, refuse TV, go to bed on time, get up early; exercise, eat healthy; attend to family; invest wisely; manage the details.
Do you benefit from a vacation? Of course, as long as you don’t build in more stress than you relieve.
Do you DESERVE the vacation? It’s the wrong question. When it’s time for vacation, it’s time for vacation. Pursue it with the same intensity as everything else. And when it’s time to go back to work, get after it.
For those of us who have spent (or are spending) a lifetime working, learning how work and life can mesh (Bezos’ preferred term) is the essence of job satisfaction and personal meaning. Make the most of it. “Whatever you do, do it with all your heart,” said the Apostle.
A gold watch and a half-pay pension
The wall we will hit (or have hit) appears on the day the work comes to an end at retirement.
It is quite unreasonable to assume that moving from work to not-work, where a third of your life routine suddenly vanishes, will be a smooth progression. Expect this and plan for it. This sudden change is exactly why many who are older refuse to see retirement as an end, but rather as a beginning.
Life is probably much simpler for the Golden Retriever responding to the smell of PTSD. Ring the bell, get the treat.
For us, when we lose focus on what our life means, there is no treat.
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