Time For Work

thoughts May 9, 2013

Disclaimer

*** This is a perspective I'm currently exploring and so I'm arguing both sides. You've been warned. ***

Family

When we need time for something it must be taken. It cannot be replaced or given back or returned, we consume it and it's gone.
Often times when you need that extra time to get something done, like a meeting or conversation, we steal that time from our families.
We steal from them because they love us and will forgive us. We don't seem to steal that time from the people we work for/with. But why is that?
Our drive to perform or excel, to be perfect at work, overrides our drive to be the same at home.
When I take that extra hour to have another meeting or to finish conversation or do another report, I'm stealing from my son or my wife. This is
an emotional representation rather than a factual one to be clear but that doesn't make it any less accurate. Perceptions are reality.

Work

I was made for this. The gifts I have been given, the talents that I possess, the knowledge that I have acquired...all align to what I am doing.
I am fulfilling my purpose. I was made to work and by living up to that potential I am setting an example for my family. The provisions that we have
are because of this effort and we can enjoy them as the blessings that they truly are. When I take the time to make sure a job is done right
I am showing my children how to be diligent in their work.

You can't steal what is given freely. If I put a basket of pennies somewhere with a sign
"Take as many as you need" and you take them all, it wasn't stealing. Often times our families give freely, where our employers do not, and that's
not stealing. This is where the recent trend of "unlimited" vacation time has started to shift that mindset but that's a different post...

Balance is NOT the goal

You cannot balance two things that are fundamentally unequal. It's like closing one eye and holding up a yellow M&M until it's the same size as the sun in the sky.
Now they're the same, right? Looking at something thru a single dimensionality is a farce and by no means a measure of that thing. Size alone doesn't make them the same
any more than me spending more time at work than home makes one more significant than the other.

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