Robi Ganguly’s Big Ideas

I’m not terribly good at separating myself from work. I never have been. For me, time is fairly fluid and I can be out having fun with friends and also thinking about work. Over the years I’ve found that I often have a hard time even recognizing this trait and identifying when I’m bringing stress with me. So, recently, I’ve focused on more cleanly separating work and any related work stress from when I’m enjoying "my own" time, as it were. As a result, I find myself thinking more about what it means to "have a life" and how any of us can, in an increasingly connected and fluid world, separate work from the rest of our life.

Which brings me to a story:

A few weeks ago, I locked myself out of my apartment. I’ve managed to do this a couple of times but have fortunately been able to creatively get back into my place (read: break-in) without much hassle. This time, however, I was completely out of options and had to go ahead and call a locksmith.

It turns out, for those of you haven’t had to do this, that within San Francisco there’s a 24 hour service you can call that dispatches locksmiths, almost like cabs. Within a few minutes of calling I was informed that someone would be over in 30 minutes to an hour. After hanging up, my three friends who were patiently waiting with me asked me how much it was going to cost. My answer? "Does it matter? Because I’m going to pay it anyway." I was hoping it’d be cheap, but didn’t expect it, since they had me between a rock and a hard place.

45 minutes later, just before the locksmith picked my lock, I found out the cost: $130. $55 for the visit and $75 for the "service", which took approximately 20 seconds. Shaking my head as I give the guy my credit card, I ask him if he’s very busy. "I can’t even get laundry done," the guy says to me. At which point I realize that the way this works is that the guy’s just on call and gets dispatched from wherever he is to go open locks for idiots like me. Given that it’s 11 p.m. on a Saturday night, and his efforts to do laundry have been stymied by me it dawns on me that this guy and I struggle with similar issues. I follow up with another question, "Does it pay well at least?"

He nods, "Money’s good, but you have no life."

Better than I could have said it myself.

I suppose I should take solace in the fact that I’ve left the job (I-banking) that made me feel the same way and am working towards figuring out how to better balance my life. But what it really makes me wonder is, who actually manages to have "a life" these days?

I look around and see a lot of people struggling with their increasing connectedness. Work and free time aren’t separated by the boundaries of location anymore. You can check your voicemail/email/text messages anywhere, you can get contacted whenever necessary. "Working" for myself and those who I know isn’t as much defined by a physical act. It’s more mental these days, which means that I could be snowboarding in Vail and have an insight into something pertaining to work. That’s how my life is these days, "working" at home, or on the slopes, socializing with friends while at work.

As we lose the simple boundaries, do we need to establish new ones that are more complex in this connected world? Should I be setting a timer that keeps track of how many hours a week I’ve devoted to thinking about work? Or, is it something else? Do we work to find jobs that are so enjoyable and aligned with our interests that the fact that we’re working all the time doesn’t matter?

I think I’d pay a lot of money for that answer. Definitely more than I’d pay to get into my apartment when I’ve been an idiot

Tags: work/life balance, connected life, service economy

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