I was attending a team meeting for one of my client’s and the President commented that everyone in the room should not be surprised to have to do work outside the office. He told them that they were highly compensated, responsible for significant budgets, and had multiple responsibilities, which he understood took significant time. He also told them that when they did not get tasks done during their work week, they should plan on spending their weekend getting it all completed.

He got some pushback from a few team members one stating that he wished his boss respected and understood the importance of worklife balance in his being a successful manager which to him meant some time off on the weekend.

I believe this senior leader does understand the importance of downtime for success and he also recognizes that his managers and others have just one life and not two separate lives.

When his team members are working, he recognizes that there will be family and personal matters to take care of and that while they are at home, there will be business matters to take care.

All of us can relate to the experience that when we are at work we might be thinking about planning for our next holiday by scoping out airfares online. On the other hand, taking calls or working on projects after hours is also a part of our one life. Feeling resentful is a big energy sucker and usually doesn’t lead to particularly good outcomes.

Down time is essential for recovery but we are not nearly as fragile as the balancing teeter totter shows in the picture above. We are built to be resilient.

© Richard Citrin, All rights reserved, 2018

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