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Founder & CEOFounded Creatuity in 2008
PHP Development Firm
Focus on the Magento platform
I was inspired, in large part, by never wanting to work in a traditional office thanks to the movie
‘Office Space’.
IMPORTANT!
lanyrd.com/sdhttz
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–Wikipedia
“Lifestyle” includes health, pleasure, leisure, family & spiritual development/
meditation
Work/Life Balance
Used to be simple
Work 8 hours making widgets, then go home
The widgets didn’t follow you home
Work/Life Balance Today
Work 8+ hours
Spend an hour driving home
Check your work email on your smartphone
Finish up “one last bit” of work after dinner
Most of us are trying to pack entirely too much - we’re spending too much of our life focused on work.
Work/Life Integration
“If people enjoy what they do, there’s no need to draw strict lines.” —Fortune Magazine
Not a bad concept, but…
Work/Life Integration
Work/Life Integration, especially when abused by employers, destroys personal boundaries
Healthy personal boundaries are critical to self-worth, happiness & fulfillment
The best attempts at work/life integration use technology to allow employees to alter their work to
better accommodate their personal life.
The worst attempts at work/life integration use technology and peer pressure to take advantage of
passionate, driven employees.
Cui Bono
Evaluate a company’s work/life initiatives by asking a simple question - cui bono - “to whose benefit?”
#fstoconf15
The average American in their mid-30’s has 2,000 Saturdays left in their life. Don’t
waste them.
Inspired by Merlin Mann’s post How Many Saturdays Do You Get and the followup discussion on his podcast,
Back to Work
Merlin’s calculation was that he had only about 300 Saturdays left that his young daughter would want to spend
with him.
Importance of Personal Time
Develop and maintain healthy relationships
Personal growth & development
Happiness & fulfillment
#fstoconf15
Tech executives - you’re not running a factory. Stop treating your employees like factory
workers.
Studies have linked personal downtime to increases in creativity, memory, learning and problem solving.
Hiring millennials? 40% of them will leave if you don’t have a good work/life balance
policy. — Washington Post
In other words - do you want high performing employees who are creative, solve problems and
help your business grow?
Give your employees downtime!
#fstoconf15
Work/life balance is not a perk. It’s an attitude of respect for each employee’s life and need for rest.
Flexible hours and working from home are great, but create a clear boundary that signals to manager
and employee when the employee is working.
These options are great, but implemented on their own without a cultural change, they are often
underutilized.
Old culture: all employees must be in the same office at the same time, or they aren’t getting work
done
New culture: it’s important for employees to be able to collaborate, but their productivity won’t suffer if they don’t have the exact same hours.
Experiment with small changes.
I banned laptops from my bedroom and discovered that one change greatly improved my sleep.
I tried Flux - https://justgetflux.com/
I even wore these $6 glasses:
For me - it wasn’t just the impact of staring at a bright screen. Using a laptop in bed prevented me
from relaxing my mind.
#fstoconf15
Know yourself. Take time to set priorities to help you guide your own personal balance between
work and life.
Would you walk out of a meeting at work for a minor issue at home?
Then don’t give up your personal time for a minor issue at work!
Get better sleep - FitBit
Improve your nutrition - MyFitnessPal
Get some sort of exercise - FitBit + MyFitnessPal
Even minor improvements to your health will have a noticeable impact on your work/life balance and
your enjoyment of life
Ensure your work respects your family time - establish clear rules and expectations of when you
will and won’t be reachable.
For example - I enjoy speaking with developers and trying new beers.
I use every trip I take - for work or pleasure - to connect with local user groups and get their
recommendation for a good local beer.
It’s an important topic, and important to get it right - those 2,000 Saturdays will pass by in a blink.
#fstoconf15
Define one boundary between your work and your life and starting Monday,
respect that boundary.
After a week, try the Emergent Task Timer and see if your reality matches up with your priorities and
boundaries.
Keep In Touch!
lanyrd.com/sdhttz
@JoshuaSWarren
JoshuaWarren.com