Podcast: Play in new window | Download
What comes to mind when you hear the term “work-life balance”? How about when you think about retirement? I get a fair amount of questions about these two topics—likely because this podcast is all about engineering a practice that provides for your epic life—but I’m here to tell you that I think both work-life balance and retirement are complete b.s.
In this episode, I go on a bit of a rant about why these two ideas really bother me. Listen in to hear why I don’t agree with the thought that we should have a clear distinction between work and the other aspects of our lives, the reason I think retirement is a bad idea, and how we should all go about designing lives that give us purpose and fulfillment.
Key Quotes:
- “Is ‘work-life balance’ implying that one is bad and that we should balance it with the other one? I don’t know—I have a hard time with that. Most people get their purpose and a lot of their identity from their work.”
- “Why can’t we have a vision that blurs the lines between work and play?”
- “I think that’s a common theme in 100% of people, that you should be growing and evolving and serving. And most people do that through their work.”
- “My life is fueling my work, and my work is fueling my life. So can we just all call it life and integrate it?”
- “I, quite frankly, want to work the day before I die. I want to work until the end, delivering value.”
- “You’re serving the patient by being influential. You’re serving your team by giving them a culture, a place that they enjoy and collaborate and have a shared vision. All those components fuel your life.”
- “Five years we’ve been talking about designing an epic practice to fuel your epic life. It’s a vehicle to get what you want—to live the life that you want—but it all has to be engineered with intention.”
- “Can we stop talking about retirement, and can we stop talking about work-life balance? I think they’re both complete bullshit, and I think they take people down paths that they shouldn’t even consider.”
- “Design a work schedule that gives you purpose, that gives you meaning, that gives you challenge and allows you to grow, and let that fuel your life.”