So back, I go to Ted.com to find an interesting piece by Nigel Marsh about Work/Life balance. I have ranted about Work/Life balance many times, and I think I am doing a better job about it, but Nigel’s fairly blunt presentation I think is quite refreshing to hear.
Work-life balance, says Nigel Marsh, is too important to be left in the hands of your employer. At TEDxSydney, Marsh lays out an ideal day balanced between family time, personal time and productivity — and offers some stirring encouragement to make it happen.
I like the quote about how no company is caring about you. They care about how much money they make, so keep that in mind.
Other Ted Talks
- Barry Schwartz asks why have we lost our financial wisdom? Darn good question.
- Julian Treasure talks about how Noise Affects our Health and 8 steps to keep sound health.
- Does Democracy stifle economic growth? Yasheng Huang thinks so.
- Cities As a Mathematical Model is an exciting model idea
- Seth Godin talks about how the technology landscape is littered with broken things.
- Does Education need to change? Sir Ken Robinson thinks so, and I am inclined to agree with him.
- How do we Innovate to a zero energy footprint? Bill Gates has some ideas, it seems.
- Can low cost eye care be world class? Thulasiraj Ravilla thinks so.
- Rewiring the Brain may be needed in the future, given how damaged some brains have become due to how fragile the brain is.
- Cliff Stohl was the original Hacker-Catcher but he also espouses the value to continual learning
- Graham Hill wonders can you be more happy with less stuff? Less clutter is a good thing, we know that, so maybe he isn’t far off.
- There is a right and wrong way to tie your shoes? I did not know that, until Terry Moore explained it to me.
- Nigel Marsh wonders if it is possible to create a work life balance? Not sure how that works.
- Does anyone know what technology wants? Kevin Kelly thinks he has an idea.
- TED’s Chris Anderson says the rise of web video is driving a worldwide phenomenon he calls Crowd Accelerated Innovation
- Did we get different consumer behaviour after the 2008 crisis? Not really. That’s why we had the 2023 crisis.
- Can social media predict epidemics or pandemics? We saw something like this with COVID-19.
- Jay Walker seems to think that English is the second language in the world? Might be right.
- How can we combat modern slavery? Most major economic empires or empires in general were built on slave labour, how do we break this cycle?
- What is the Bio-Future of Joint Replacement? Are we just going to use metal and plastics?
- Mandlebrot wishes to talk to you about the roughness of shapes. He has written about Turbulence in Financial Markets
- Philip Zombardo talks about the psychology of time, which is always interesting.
- Measure What Makes Life Worthwhile, Chip Conley may have some ideas for you.
- Billy Graham talking about technology and theology? Pastor Graham is a strong orator, not sure I buy into all his messages.
- What happens on losing everything in a fire ? A very interesting question answered in this very interesting Ted series chat by David Hoffman.
- A former salesman tells you that sometimes the Simple Answers are the right answers.
- The Canadian Medical System can take its time on some surgeries, but two years for a hip?
- Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics is a typical theme but in this case with a bit of tongue in cheek.
- Can Money buy happiness? According to Benjamin Wallace not really, but your misery might be more enjoyable?
- Temple Grandin talks about being Autistic and her fight to live in our strange world.
- James Randi’s skepticism helped debunk a lot of hokum that arose in the 20th century.
- With profound simplicity, Coach John Wooden redefines success and urges us all to pursue the best in ourselves.
- The Spectre of Denial of vaccines and medical solutions is now the normal view of things, and that is quite worrying.
This as an excellent video on Work Life Balance! As Nigel says, “It’s the small things in life that matter. It is not who dies with the most toys.”
My favorite quote in the video is “many work long hours at jobs they hate, to enable them to buy things they don’t need to impress people they do not like” . It is not wrong to work hard, to buy things or to impress people. It is about planning the ideal day and life and focusing on what is important to each of us, not on someone else’s definition of success.
But it is very wrong to do something you hate, no matter what. If you want to die young, do something you hate because it pays well…
What an awesome talk. I struggle with this constantly. I think I am going to have to read his book.
Employers car to the extent that it maximises profits. Many employers in Australia offer onsite day care not to be nice and fluffy but so they can attract talented young females.