Work life balance
As a litigation lawyer, I kid you not, my job is rather stressful. My clients seek me out in times of trouble and essentially I am a hired gun! Did you know that the majority of solicitors (in England and Wales) time record all "chargeable work" in units of 6 minutes and are expected to hit targets of around 1300 hours of time recording every year?!
Is my work compatible with my Buddhist values? I like to win the argument and the case. However, as a public sector employee, I can consider what is fair and reasonable and I am not purely motivated by financial reward (and indeed would be in the wrong place if I was).
Unfortunately, with public sector work comes a lot of bureaucracy and red tape. Pre-meetings followed by meetings and then minutes of meetings are par for the course, which only adds to workload and deadlines and stress.
Add to that slogans like "more for less", "innovation" and "efficiency savings", then have a reorganisation which reduces headcount and introduce pre-booked hot desking and you have an idea of my current work predicament.
Leo Tolstoy is attributed with these pearly words of wisdom: "One of the major obstacles impeding any future change in our lives is that we are too busy with our current work or activity".
I am in search of a work life balance...
Don't work for the system. You're the sort of people holding the new era back. Clinging on to government Stockholm syndrome. You'll be happier in the end yourself, as well :) Don't try to find balance in the system, you won't find it.
Is there balance outside of the system? Thanks for giving me food for thought 🙂
I sincerely think it's easier to find balance outside the system.