Is Work Bleeding Into Life? Great!

Do you try to compartmentalize your "work life" from your "personal life" and keep different lists, calendars, and ways of staying on top of things for each?

Or do you find that it's easier and more fluid to keep it all together, consolidated, and mixed together?

My take is: why have two different ways or systems of how you manage your commitments, when, in fact, you are one human being, with one mind, one heart, and one body. And you've only got one SELF that takes action in the world. Trying to compartmentalize ourself into two different sides, usually ends up with some of those key compartments being ignored or neglected - and it's usually the personal compartments that get forgotten for most clients I worked with. Plus, it usually takes much more energy and time to keep the same kind of stuff (tasks and calendar commitments) in two different systems or tools.

These days, work happens during personal time, and plenty of personal tasks happen during work time. And there's nothing wrong with that, as long as you are a reasonably responsible and ethical person.

I can't tell you how many times I've gently encouraged a reluctant workflow coaching client toward consolidating their work and personal lives into one set of lists and one calendar, only to hear them, a week later, excitedly exclaim things like "oh man, I can't believe I hadn't done this sooner! This make everything so much easier. Now I've got perspective on EVERYTHING in one place, and I can actually feel more relaxed about it all."

Counter-intuitive, but true.

The article below from the New York Times sparked my reflection on this. The piece looks at the growing trend of "work-ish" tools, like calendar management tools like calendly, task list applications, etc. beginning to bleed more and more into the personal side of life.

I say great! When we use the same level of structure and clarity for all the parts of our life, it doesn't have to mean that we'll becoming less spontaneous, more impersonal, or dweebie in our personal life. When done consciously, it brings MORE balance, not less. It creates MORE freedom, not less.

Let me know how you relate to and experience this topic in your life and work. I'm curious to hear.

Michael