In this episode, the hosts explore the intricacies of achieving work-life balance and share personal anecdotes and practical strategies to integrate professional success with personal well-being. From recognizing work efforts and setting boundaries to prioritizing family time and avoiding burnout, the discussion offers valuable insights for anyone looking to recalibrate their life.
Key Takeaways:
- Company Culture: Tamar emphasizes the importance of recognizing individuals’ work efforts to foster a positive workplace environment.
- Work-Life Balance: Libby shares her journey from burnout to finding a healthier work-life balance in a more flexible setting.
- Family Prioritization: Mark discusses the challenges and rewards of prioritizing family time over career advancement.
- Task Management: Elan offers insights into using the Top 6 tasks method to balance daily productivity with personal well-being.
Guests:
Our WORKP2P sidekicks are Elan Olsen, creative sidekick; Tamar Medford, show producer; Libby Sundgren, content development manager; and BEATS WORKING host Mark Wright.
Resources Mentioned:
- Contributors Corner July 2024: ”Redefining Success in Work-Life Balance”
- Organization: BEATS WORKING & WORKP2P
- Guests: Bios & LinkedIn
Quotes:
-“Balance isn’t about keeping everything equal; it’s about doing what matters most at the right time.” – Mark Wright
-“Recognizing the effort of each individual creates a culture of respect and productivity.” – Tamar Medford
Listener Challenge:
This week, reflect on your current work-life balance and identify one area where you can set a healthier boundary. Share your progress with us on social media using #BEATSWORKINGShow.
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Transcript
The following transcript is not certified. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors. The information contained within this document is for general information purposes only.
[00:00:00] Mark Wright: Welcome to Sidekick Sessions. This month, we’re talking about how to win at work and at home.
[00:00:05] Mark Wright: And, along with Contributors Corner, which dropped earlier in the month, we had some great advice from Dr. James Bryant, who is an expert at how to win at work and at home. So that’s what we’re going to be talking about with the internal team here at WORKP2P. I guess we should first start by identifying the team.
[00:00:22] Mark Wright: Tamar, why don’t you start?
[00:00:24] Tamar Medford: My name’s Tamar Medford and I’m the producer at WORKP2P
[00:00:28] Mark Wright: Elan
[00:00:29] Elan Olsen: Hi, I’m Elan Olsen, and I am the creative sidekick.
[00:00:33] Mark Wright: and Libby.
[00:00:34] Libby Sundgren: I am Libby Sundgren and I, develop content here at WORKP2P.
[00:00:39] Mark Wright: Okay. This is going to be, I think, a really interesting conversation because I don’t think that there’s a more universal struggle than balancing work and life because every human has to do some kind of work and every human has a family. And so I would love to just start out. just going around the table here [00:01:00] with what your experience has been when it comes to work life balance.
[00:01:04] Mark Wright: And I know these things can change depending on what phase of our careers, we are in, but Alon, I’d love to start with you. What’s been your experience with work life balance so far?
[00:01:14] Elan Olsen:, well, I have been with WORKP2P for three years, and I mean, we’ve gone through transitions there in terms of trying to get a work life balance into place in the way that we talk about it. I will say though, I started my career in customer service and retail and then transitioned into WORKP2P
[00:01:36] Elan Olsen: So I, I actually don’t think I’ve got a lot of insight on that, just because it was either you go to work for your eight hours, you clock in, you clock out, or where I am now. So I, I don’t feel like I’ve got a lot of weight behind, experience there.
[00:01:55] Mark Wright: Okay, well, that’s fair, but we do work for a company that has [00:02:00] a pretty enlightened view when it comes to, we call it oscillation and that is just, downtime to recharge. We have an unlimited PTO policy. So I feel like we kind of work for an ideal company when it comes to. You know, really embracing the idea of winning at work and at home.
[00:02:17] Mark Wright: So, I feel like we’re a little bit spoiled that way. thanks Alon for that. Tamar, what about you? What comes to mind when someone says work life balance?
[00:02:25] Tamar Medford: I feel like I’ve been on a teeter totter. Like a really big teeter totter for most of my life when it’s come to work and life balance, you know, I used to, I come from a corporate, uh, background where it was expected that even though, they hire you to work 40 hours a week, that’s what you got paid for.
[00:02:46] Tamar Medford: It was expected that you worked 50 to 60 hours a week. And if you didn’t, then You were, it was commented that you’re on the B team, right? And, and I mean, I was always raised with a really strong work ethic. My dad worked all the time, but he was very passionate about [00:03:00] what he did. And so I’ve always been a bit of a workaholic, which hasn’t always served me well.
[00:03:05] Tamar Medford: But I think, depending on the companies you work for, there can be this expectation still, in some corporations that you should work longer than the hours that are typically presented to you. And so, you know, I’ve also been in that position where, being self employed, and I love what I do.
[00:03:28] Tamar Medford: And so I tend to put everything into work and then not as much into my relationship. So today it’s really about what are my priorities in life? And for the first time ever, I actually have a family that I have to think about. And that can be hard sometimes because I love what we do. I love what I do, you know, as a side hustle as well.
[00:03:50] Tamar Medford: And so sometimes that can overtake. My personal life, but, it’s, I enjoy spending time with my partner, with the kids, and I have to remember that [00:04:00] sometimes. So I think for me, it’s just a constant reminder of what is actually important, because my partner hopefully will be there till the day that I pass away, should I be lucky enough for that.
[00:04:11] Tamar Medford: So I really have to catch myself sometimes.
[00:04:14] Mark Wright: And you’ve told me stories, Tamar, about your former corporate work and really how the environment was very judgmental. You would show up before anybody else, but if you left at all early, someone would give you like the stink eye and say, what, Where, where are you going? Where did that come from? That, whole idea that it was more about time than quality, right?
[00:04:36] Tamar Medford: Absolutely. And I think, and that was a really interesting scenario because I’ve always been a morning person. I like getting up early. That is shifting slightly now because I actually love spending time in the morning with my partner. But that’s, I work best, you know, there’s times where I’ve woken up at three 30 in the morning and headed to work.
[00:04:56] Tamar Medford:, do I want to do that today? Probably not, but I [00:05:00] think there is this, BEATS WORKING. with some companies in this company in particular, where if other people perceived things because maybe they came in later and stayed later, there was a lot of judgment. And I think that’s just personal view, right? We all kind of, I think we’re all can get caught judging sometimes and what people do and what they don’t and not recognizing that they might actually be working late.
[00:05:24] Tamar Medford: They might actually be working early in the morning. So that actually was a really strange, situation, that unfortunately, that’s a personality thing, you know, in my opinion.
[00:05:34] Tamar Medford: So, and it just obviously wasn’t the right place to stay. So,
[00:05:39] Mark Wright: the words of my mother, Grandma Susan up on the farm in Ferndale, mind your own knitting is a common phrase. So whoever that guy was that said you weren’t spending enough time at work needs to call my mom. Libby, what about you? I’d love to hear. You’ve had a bunch of different work experiences in your career, but did you ever struggle with work [00:06:00] life balance or how did that play out for you?
[00:06:02] Libby Sundgren: I really did in my first,, like primary job in my career. I was there for about eight years and it, when I joined the company, it was not a startup, but it very much ran as a With that kind of mentality and that kind of culture. So just lots of working. So, you know, people emailing at all hours.
[00:06:32] Libby Sundgren: And, you were kind of the worst if you didn’t respond, you just, you felt a lot of pressure to be like, always checking, remote work was not allowed, and it was also like, it was pretty clunky because you had to like, log into your laptop through Google. You’re logging to your computer through a different laptop.
[00:06:52] Libby Sundgren: It wasn’t just the company was not set up really for remote work. And so, but even, folks on the sales team who, [00:07:00] you know, had a laptop who could go home, it just, it was really frowned upon. It was looked at as like, you weren’t part of the team and you weren’t working with everybody. You weren’t actually working.
[00:07:12] Libby Sundgren: I think that was partially. The culture, but partially, born from a sense of like burnout that everybody felt and, kind of like a, like a total feeling of jealousy. Like, why can that person work at home and I have to come in here 50 hours a week or something, you know? So, there was not, I mean, my, Life was pretty heavily skewed towards work.
[00:07:42] Libby Sundgren: Um, when I was there, you know, I started working there before I had kids before, uh, actually, no, I think I was, dating my husband at the time we were dating. So, but you know, we were dating, we didn’t, Live together. We didn’t, weren’t married and didn’t have, we were young [00:08:00] and very, could run on like little sleep.
[00:08:01] Libby Sundgren: So, it was very skewed towards work. And by the time I left, I was very burnt out. I had just had my first child. I tried going back to work. And I just very quickly realized that I was not going to be able to work anymore like work the same way. And it would not have been well received, for me to change, my work habits in that environment.
[00:08:30] Libby Sundgren: And then I worked in a different environment that was, and also in that company, you know, if you told HR, they were going to tell the owner. So, you know, there were a lot of like culture problems in general, but it was very opposite of corporate. And then I went to a TV station that was very corporate and was kind of like almost the opposite end of the spectrum, but it was refreshing for me.
[00:08:57] Libby Sundgren:, because on one hand I’d [00:09:00] have people who were like, I only work from nine to five. I don’t look at my emails afterwards and I’d be like, that’s really annoying. Like, could you just answer this one question for me? but you know, there were like a lot of unions involved there. And so, and a lot of more like rules they had to follow.
[00:09:17] Libby Sundgren:, and so it was just kind of widely accepted that, If you weren’t at work, like, you can’t force somebody to be working. And, I also worked on a team that was super flexible and really, encouraged a work life balance. And so, and my boss there was, was wonderful about that. He also had kids, so he understood, what life is like when you’re Just trying to survive.
[00:09:47] Libby Sundgren:, so, it was different. And, my work life kind of, work life balance kind of went back to the middle. And then, here it is a [00:10:00] very, you know, an even more kind of, a bigger focus, I feel like on a work life balance, just with our four day work weeks and, encouraged time away from the office.
[00:10:12] Libby Sundgren:, you know, with our, we don’t really, it’s not really PTO, but OTA, we call it OTA, oscillation time away with that. And then our company shuts down for 4 weeks out of the year. And, so it has really given me, the ability to like, To, focus very hard on my work for four normal days. I’m not working like 12 hour days.
[00:10:33] Libby Sundgren:,, and, that’s a very long explanation of saying of, of my journey, my work life balance journey.
[00:10:39] Mark Wright: Oh, I think there were some interesting dynamics there. I think when you start adding children into the equation, and I think especially for moms, it becomes really challenging because, a kid with an earache in the morning changes your entire day. And sometimes. You’ve got to go to the doctor.
[00:10:55] Mark Wright: You’ve got to do, all kinds of other activities. And that schedule [00:11:00] becomes really chaotic and managing that you really do, I think, have to have the support, of an employer, otherwise it just doesn’t work, right?
[00:11:10] Mark Wright: Yeah.
[00:11:10] Libby Sundgren: Im curious, Mark, because you, You know, your sons are, grown, almost grown. but with a new schedule, I, some people aren’t familiar with new schedules, but there’s like a early, early morning where you go in at like two or three in the morning. And then, um, the general day schedule where you’re on like nine Six or something.
[00:11:32] Libby Sundgren: And then an evening schedule when you’re there from three to 11 or later midnight. but, how did you find work life balance as somebody who was married with kids when you either miss the mornings or miss the evenings? And also like you have to sleep. So like, when do you, how’d you do that?
[00:11:53] Mark Wright:, early in my career, when I was over in Spokane, I was a reporter at KXLY and I started in radio and then [00:12:00] transitioned into TV. So I was reporting for TV and my news director came to me and she said, Hey, we have an opportunity for a weekend anchor position. And it was a big opportunity.
[00:12:10] Mark Wright: And, uh, and I told this story on the Contributor’s Corner episode with Dr. James. But she came to me and she said, Hey, this is a great opportunity. you want to get into anchoring. Uh, we have this weekend position open. And, I thought about it and came back the next day and said, well, my wife works as a school teacher Monday through Friday, and if I take this weekend job.
[00:12:31] Mark Wright: We’re really not going to see each other. And I said, I just can’t, take the job. And she, she really was like, like shocked because in television, there’s so much competition for these jobs. And she said, you know, this is probably going to slow your career way down if you make decisions like that.
[00:12:50] Mark Wright: And I’m like, that’s okay. And so about three or four months later, a morning anchor job came open at the same station and she came back to me and she said, you know, we’ve got a weekday [00:13:00] anchor, It’s yours if you want it. And I took that position and it made me realize and when I would go back for years to Washington State University and talk to broadcasting students, I would tell that story because I said, if you don’t draw the boundaries, even when you’re in your twenties.
[00:13:15] Mark Wright: Those boundaries will get drawn by other people, and you’ll be bound by those. And so I said, figure out what’s really important in your life, and have the courage. It’s scary to tell your boss, no, but have the courage to say no to the things that are going to, impair that quality of life and the things that are important to you.
[00:13:35] Mark Wright: So that was kind of the, my early experience kind of told me that, you know, the universe rewarded, my decision to spend time with my wife. And that was, really cool. But beyond that, Libby, you talked about the crazy schedules, and it really is a sacrifice.
[00:13:50] Mark Wright: You’re either getting up in the middle of the night and anchoring a morning show, or you’re going to work mid afternoon and you’re not home until midnight. And so, when I look back, I [00:14:00] realize that my wife, had to do a lot of the work to get the kids off in the morning or To get the homework done in the evening and prepare dinner all by herself.
[00:14:09] Mark Wright: And it’s, you know, I get a little emotional sometimes when I think about this, because, I missed a lot. I missed a lot. And I’m really grateful that my wife, is the amazing woman that she is, that she picked up a lot of slack. And that’s an industry where you just can’t dictate your schedule. You either have to do a morning show or evening shows.
[00:14:31] Mark Wright: And so there, there’s a cost. But I think, the flip side it was an amazing career, an amazing experience. And I think the higher you go up the food chain in news, the more that management knows they have to respect your private time and your time away because they don’t want to burned out, crabby guy on the news.
[00:14:51] Mark Wright: And so I think, that there really was a nice balance in terms of the amount of vacation and, You know, adequate time away to spend [00:15:00] time with family. Alon.
[00:15:01] Elan Olsen: I thought Libby had mentioned something super important about culture and it reminded me I was having a conversation with a friend of mine last night who works for a major tech company in the Seattle area and We were having a conversation about how they lied to him when he applied for the job, promising him work life balance.
[00:15:24] Elan Olsen: And so I think for us, we live in a really redeemed workspace where unlimited PTO, or for us OTA, really means what it says. A salary means what it says. And I think for, a big reason why we’re, any of us are doing this is because. So many of our peers and people that we know experienced incredibly unredeemed workplaces where a salary, which should mean you have the ability to work when you want to work.
[00:15:55] Elan Olsen: It means for a lot of people that you’re only paid for 40 hours, but the expectation, like Tamar [00:16:00] said, is that you work 60. Or unlimited PTO means You’re going to take less PTO statistically. They know that, and they don’t have to pay you out for any accrued PTO when you decide to leave. So I think there’s like these cultural things that have to come along with the benefits that are provided because otherwise it feels so unredeemed that it just feels culturally normal for the companies you’re applying to, to lie to you.
[00:16:27] Elan Olsen: About what their benefits really are because of the culture isn’t there to back it up. And like on that note, the idea of, the 40 hour work week isn’t designed for an individual or a family living life that both people need to work. The reality of what we live in economically now is that a two income household, I mean, I live a dink lifestyle, a double income, no kids lifestyle. It’s a huge, I mean, I live in a redeemed workspace and it is a huge deterrent financially, not, [00:17:00] not to be pushing forward for kids right now because we both have to work and child care is expensive and, all these other things. And so I don’t think culturally, societally, a 40 hour work week is designed for the success of people like Libby who value their career, but also value being a mom and a parent and want to have that balance for sure.
[00:17:21] Elan Olsen: So I don’t think societally we’re designed for that. And then the other cultural pressure is we still want to hit those milestones. I’m 30, you know, still want to have the wedding and I still wanted to buy a house and I do want to have kids. So I want to be able to do all those things. So I have to work in the 40 hour work week because that’s what the culture is and the society is.
[00:17:45] Elan Olsen: And I, fortunately for me, I’m lucky enough to work somewhere where my OTA is real. My salary is real. Like, all of those things really mean what they say. So, those were just the thoughts I was thinking as Libby was bringing up the culture of [00:18:00] places. Because I think that’s a huge piece that we’re still missing.
[00:18:05] Elan Olsen: For all these companies that are offering benefits, right?
[00:18:08] Mark Wright: that’s really insightful, Ilan. And one of the things that our boss, Dan Rogers will say is if you want to know what someone believes, watch their actions. And I think the same can be said for our company. The fact that he shuts our company down for two weeks at the end of June and two weeks at the end of December, and there’s no work.
[00:18:26] Mark Wright: I mean, that’s, that says a lot. A four day workweek says a lot. unlimited OTA says a lot. So I think you, you can learn a lot about a company. And, we just had a guest on the BEATS WORKING podcast who, who spent his life in software startups. And he talked about, you know, the Candyland companies, the Googles and the Microsofts and the Zillows and the Amazons.
[00:18:48] Mark Wright: One of the reasons that tech companies provide all the goodies for their employees is they don’t want them to leave the office. So they provide food, they [00:19:00] provide snacks, they provide entertainment, ping pong tables. And I mean, that’s a deliberate move on their part because they know that if they provide all that stuff, they’re going to get more work.
[00:19:11] Mark Wright: And, and that’s a meat grinder in, in a lot of those industries, the big, big tech companies.
[00:19:16] Elan Olsen: And doesn’t that feel inauthentic? I mean on the surface on paper it looks so incredible that you’ve got this ping pong table and kegs in the break room, right? But when you, you know, it, I think people really read that as being, oh you’re trying to trick me, you know?
[00:19:31] Mark Wright: Tamar.
[00:19:31] Tamar Medford: Well, and one of the other things I’ve learned over the years is that we stop becoming productive after a certain amount of time. You know, I mean, it’s not uncommon for me to work 60, 70 hours a week previously thinking that if I worked more and also, the employer pushing you to work more, you would get more done.
[00:19:53] Tamar Medford: But you don’t, right? And I used to think, okay, well, if I work lots, then that, you know, my value, [00:20:00] I’m worth more. But it’s not true, because you’re just not productive after a certain amount of time. You’re tired. You feel lethargic. You want to go home. You want to do all these other things. And I think, It’s important to be intentional, even if you love what you do, which has tended to be a problem for me over the last, I would say, five years, is I love what I do.
[00:20:20] Tamar Medford: I could do it all day. I mean, I could sit and create all evening if I chose to, but I need to fill my cup up so that I can actually continue to be creative, to continue to do my best work. And if I push myself too hard and then I experience burnout, usually I’m well in the burnout. And it’s too late. So I think there is something to be said about working, you know, a certain amount of time so that you can still remain productive and not overdoing it.
[00:20:50] Mark Wright: So we’re all in our home offices right now, and one of the things that I think is a challenge to this new structure of work, where a lot of people are [00:21:00] remote, is that the line between work and home is about 15 feet that way. And I’d love to ask all of you, how do you sort of draw the lines?
[00:21:13] Mark Wright: When it comes to, okay, it’s time to shut my computer off and I’m just going to focus on my spouse or my family. I’d love to know because I mean, I have to be honest, my wife and I, Jamie and I are empty nesters now. So I’m really not neglecting anyone in, except Jamie in, and she’s cool. Just kind of like chilling after she gets home from work. I’d love to explore the idea of separation between work and home. Now that so many of us are working from our home offices. So how do you draw those lines? How do you set the boundaries when it comes to having work and home so close in proximity?
[00:21:52] Mark Wright: Who wants to jump in on that one?
[00:21:53] Libby Sundgren: well, I have two, other bosses here at home, they are seven and [00:22:00] three. And so when they arrive in this office, that really is a strong, indication to transition to my other job. but you know, it’s really. Funny, when I was working at the magazine and at one point, I think it was before I got pregnant.
[00:22:22] Libby Sundgren: I don’t know. It was kind of like in the last couple of years of when I was working there. But,, TJ and I rented this really cool house in Laurelhurst, like this kind of cabin, like down on the water. He had to go down 92 stairs to get to the house. So it’s just a straight. giant steel staircase. I’ve got photos.
[00:22:39] Libby Sundgren: It’s dizzying. But, when I would make the turn onto Mary Gates Drive, which was about, I don’t know, three quarters of a mile from my house or something, I’d make the turn. It was like, I just got to a point, like I’d always take my computer home with me every day, always took it home with me every day, every weekend. But there was just one day where I turned that [00:23:00] corner and I was like, I’m not gonna open that computer when I get home. I’m not gonna open it. And it was so weird from then on. I just couldn’t. It was like, I turned that corner and my brain was like, I’m not doing that anymore. I’m not working there.
[00:23:16] Libby Sundgren: And I think it was truly because I was like, In a stage of real burnout. Now, if it was like, if I was actually going to work from home, I would work after I turn that corner, obviously. But, I don’t know. I think I just got to such a point of burnout that I’m just very, like, just something in my brain that’s like, after a certain point of the day, I’m like, you know what?
[00:23:41] Libby Sundgren: I’ve worked a lot today. And also I don’t work super great in the afternoon. I’m way better in the morning. So I’m just like, I, it’s going to take me, you know, sometimes I’ll try to do stuff later in the evening, but it takes me three times as long as if I just wait and get up and do it early. [00:24:00] So I think just knowing, Getting more like, honest about the way that my brain actually works and also about my priorities and not trying to be everything to everybody.
[00:24:13] Libby Sundgren: And just focus on put, like, as much focus as I can, like, where I am at that given time has really given me the freedom to. not feel guilty, but you shouldn’t feel guilty about not working anymore, but it’s, it really gives me a lot of like freedom to cut my work off and just go back to it the next day.
[00:24:37] Mark Wright: Yeah. Tamar, how do you, how do you deal with the work life balance when you’re sitting there in your home office for a lot of the day?
[00:24:43] Tamar Medford: I think having kids helps. Like what Libby said, you know, we have an eight year old that’s up and down the stairs and wants to say hello and is really excited. And I’ve actually, usually when other people call me out, that tends to work well for me [00:25:00] because I am still, whether I like it or not, sometimes a people pleaser, a yes person.
[00:25:04] Tamar Medford:, but I can also be that way for work. And so having my partner actually at one point, call me out and say, listen, you know, you may not realize it, but the youngest loves to say hello when you get home, she wants to spend time with you before we eat dinner and before she goes to bed. And that almost broke my heart.
[00:25:24] Tamar Medford: Cause I was like, Really? Somebody wants to spend time with me? Because I, you know, have basically ruined relationships because work mattered more than a partnership, you know? And I think that’s eventually, it could get to the point where your partner is going to make that decision for you, where they feel like, They’re kind of on the bottom of the pile, work is on top.
[00:25:50] Tamar Medford: And, that’s when problems start to happen. And I think because I care so much about my, my, my partner today, it does matter, right? [00:26:00] It does matter that, you know, I don’t put work above everything else, because at the end of the day, You know, they’re the ones that are going to be there. They’re the ones that are going to love me.
[00:26:10] Tamar Medford: And it does feel good to actually have people who want to spend time when you shut down your computer. And I have to honor that not only for them, but for myself, because it does fill up my cup.
[00:26:21] Mark Wright: Oh, that’s great. Elan, what about you?
[00:26:23] Elan Olsen: Well, at Work P2P we use, um, like a task management tool. We’ve mentioned it a couple times. It’s called the Top 6. so before I shut down for the day when I’m working, or even during the day, I will plan the most important six things that I could possibly get done for the next day. And I write my schedule down for the next day, including Those top six items, and I’ve taken a moment to weigh those items based on their urgency and their importance and their due date.
[00:26:59] Elan Olsen: And, you [00:27:00] know, be realistic about the amount of time that those things are gonna take, and then, you know, just like Libby said, making sure I’ve assigned those six items into places in my day that I know I’m likely to be more productive. So you generally won’t see, like, any creative stuff on my scheduler after 3 p.
[00:27:19] Elan Olsen: m. so That’s been a really empowering tool when you’re, we’re talking about like shutting down for the day. I’m pretty confident that after reviewing the day that I planned the day before, scoring if I’ve done those most important six items, that score tells me if I’ve done successful at my job that day or not, or other things that I thought were most important.
[00:27:44] Elan Olsen: And then I can confidently say, well, I don’t need to think about tomorrow because I planned it out. It’s written down. BEATS WORKING. And it’s prioritized in the sequence that it needs to be prioritized. So I, and then back to the score pieces, each one of those six items, [00:28:00] if I do them, I give myself a score.
[00:28:02] Elan Olsen: And that kind of helps me keep track of whether or not I used the time effectively that day or whether or not I got the things done that I needed to get done. And again, that’s, that tool has been really empowering to me. To make sure that, look, I’ve done the work, I don’t need to feel guilty about timing, these are the projects, this is what I’ve produced, this is the value I’ve added today, so I can confidently shut my computer and walk away feeling like I did, I did the things.
[00:28:32] Mark Wright: Ilan, that’s, that’s cool that you mentioned the top six and you know, part of the top six process. Also, there’s a master list of all the things that we need to get done in our personal and professional lives.
[00:28:43] Mark Wright: So instead of trying to carry that stuff between our ears, we put it on the master list and then we do the top six for the next day, and And, you know, Dan, our boss calls it clearing the shelf. So when you shut your laptop in the evening, you’ve cleared the shelf, you’ve planned your next day, and there’s really no reason to [00:29:00] be worrying or thinking about work after that, which allows us to really show up in a better way.
[00:29:07] Mark Wright: What I think is interesting about this discussion, especially for those of us who have kids, there’s a statistic and I’m pretty sure it’s, pretty accurate. But by the time our kids are 18, we will have spent 90 percent of the time we will ever spend with them in our lives. And I think about that and it just speaks to 18 years just goes in a snap.
[00:29:32] Mark Wright: And now that both my boys are out of the house. it just makes me grateful the time that, that we were able to spend together because you get one shot, you get one shot of that family and you know, the biggest sadness that, that I see are the people who are, just type A workaholics and they’re never home and then their kids are 18 and out of the house and they have no relationship with them.
[00:29:55] Mark Wright: And, you know, that’s sad because I think the, you know, the most beautiful [00:30:00] part of life is those little ones that we bring into the world and, help get on their way. Well, as we start to wrap things up, I’d love to, Just ask the question, what would you tell your younger self about a work life balance? And I think in my case, I think a lot of the fear that I had in my twenties was unwarranted. I think we worry about a ton of stuff when we’re young that just works itself out.
[00:30:26] Mark Wright: And I guess I, I think that work life balance, is one of those things that we worry about. And I would just say to the younger Mark, have the confidence to keep making those decisions. That prioritize the things in your life that you care about. And there will be consequences. Sometimes you could lose a job over this.
[00:30:45] Mark Wright: You could get demoted. You could get passed over for promotions. But I think just having that confidence and that security, knowing that whatever the chips fall, you’ve made a decision that you think is best for the people in your life. And for [00:31:00] yourself. And I think, there’s nothing wrong with that.
[00:31:02] Mark Wright: And I just, you know, if there are young people listening to this now, grab onto that confidence and make those decisions that are good for you. And don’t worry about, don’t worry about the fallout because you can go to bed at night knowing that you’ve done your part. who else wants to jump in? Libby, what would you tell young Libby?
[00:31:20] Libby Sundgren: Um, young Libby, I think I would probably tell her that, you don’t have to say yes to everything. People are still going to like you if you don’t do it all. And it is healthy and normal to have boundaries in a workplace. And. know, I think I would probably also tell her that, it is a workplace.
[00:31:56] Libby Sundgren: They are not your actual family. And I [00:32:00] say that knowing that some of the people that I have worked with in my life I mean, many of them truly value them. Great friendships. Some of them are like my actual family. but it is, it’s a job. And so I can still care for these people and support them in ways that doesn’t mean. me working all the time to, you know, for, for a company. and that doesn’t mean I don’t value them any less. It just means that I have, other priorities like, eating dinner or like just having a social life. So, I think that’s probably what I’d tell her so many things too. I give her a lot of advice, but that’s probably it.
[00:32:47] Mark Wright: That’s awesome. Alon, how about you?
[00:32:50] Elan Olsen:, I think I would tell Little Elan that legacy is more than accomplishments. It’s how you made people feel. And Little [00:33:00] Elan has inherent worth because she exists, not because she does anything that anyone else is proud of. And she deserves to have a career path and a job that Feels fulfilling. You don’t just have to show up and do it because you have to eat.
[00:33:18] Elan Olsen: It can be something that’s worthwhile to you.
[00:33:20] Mark Wright: That is so well said. Tamar
[00:33:22] Tamar Medford: I think I would tell little Tamar that less is more. No is a very powerful word. say it more. That you’re better than you think, you know, because I, for myself personally, I would always overdo it thinking that if I could show people that I could do more, then they would appreciate me more,
[00:33:46] Tamar Medford: and, you know, for Little Tamar, it’s like having, sitting in your unique abilities, knowing that you do have things that make, And that you’re good at stuff and it’s okay to not overdo it. You don’t have to [00:34:00] prove your worth to anybody. You know, just be yourself. So, that’s what I would say.
[00:34:06] Mark Wright: Ah, that’s great. And I think, you know, the overarching thought that I have as we wrap this up is that, you know, in our company work P2P is a wonderful example of this. Is that work isn’t a win lose proposition that if a company wins, then the employee loses, or if the employee wins, the company is, you know, holding the short end of the stick.
[00:34:31] Mark Wright: I think what, Dan is trying to show by the way that he structured this company and the fact that we don’t have job descriptions and he just wants us to be awesome. I think what it says is that when owners of companies show up caring and valuing You know, caring about and valuing their employees and creating a structure that allows them to grow and flourish and develop.
[00:34:55] Mark Wright: Everybody wins, you know, and I feel like the one thing that I hope my [00:35:00] boys learn as they, as they get out into the world now is that you should be really proud of the work that you do and you should be proud of the company you work for if it’s a company so that when you go home at night. You can feel good and at the end of your career, you can feel proud that you did something that made a difference in the world.
[00:35:19] Mark Wright: And you can feel proud that you worked in a way that made you a better person. And I think that’s the benchmark as I really look at what we’re trying to do at WORKP2P. And that is, Show that the real value of work is to make us better human beings and to make the world a better place at the same time.
[00:35:36] Mark Wright: So I feel like, I feel like we’re on the right track. A lot of wisdom. Alon, I’m always, I’m always surprised. I did not have half the wisdom that you do and I’m twice your age. So, uh, keep, you’re on the right track. So keep it up. And Libby, Tamar, you guys are awesome to work with. I love being on the team.
[00:35:55] Mark Wright: So thanks again, for another edition of Sidekick [00:36:00] Sessions.