Ryan A Graves.com

Aren’t you getting tired of hearing people talk about the Work – Life balance? I am, and it’s mostly because I don’t understand the concept. It’s not that I work 80 hours a week, or than I don’t have a social life, because I do, I have a great one. The confusion is derived from my confusion around what we are balancing. Things need balancing when they are opposites right? Black and white have grey; good and evil have, well, humans. But why do work and life need balancing? If your work and you’re life are such polar opposites you are definitely in the wrong line of work. If you hate your job so much that you don’t consider it part of your life then we have issues.

People wonder why they’re not performing well at work, Peter Berner, author of Career Moments would tell you, “You’re in the wrong job!” Somebody can do a job without actually doing anything, but nobody can do work without doing anything. If you find a career or work that you enjoy it can become your life and that is OK! Believe it or not you don’t actually have to hate your job.

So, forget trying to balance your work and your life. Let your work become a part of your life and something you enjoy. Enjoy your life. I guarantee that when you find work that becomes your life and that is enjoyable the rewards will be exponential. The largest of those rewards may even be financial rewards which can also improve other aspects of your life. All of a sudden when you begin to enjoy your work the need to balance is gone.

post from Ryan’s Blog.

Routine

a: a regular course of procedure
b: habitual or mechanical performance of an established procedure <the routine of factory work>

I wonder, is having a routine really the way to be most productive…?

Over the last month I’ve been in a training program that allowed for very little routine. The norm was 12-14 hrs of work during the day interrupted only with meals. That was followed by 4-6 hrs of “social activity” during the evenings and nights. Although this was the norm there was very little opportunity to develop a routine as the schedule was always changing. This experience was jam packed with class, study, and course work, followed by plenty of going out. It was a very full experience in that I accomplished a ton and I would consider it an incredibly productive month. Now, if I was able to accomplish so much in such an environment why would I immediately return home and attempt to implement routine in my life? Maybe I would accomplish more if I were to never repeat, never act “habitually or mechanical” and never engage in a “regular course of procedure”.

Would the complete removal of routine from my life promote “outside of the box” thinking? Maybe I would find new ways to solve old problems. I might resolve everyday issues that have been plaguing me for ages.

My conclusion is that there is both good and bad routine.

Bad routine doesn’t allow you to think differently. I call this type of routine “Ground Hog’s day” routine. It locks down creativity and innovation. Ground Hog’s day routine in short, restricts “change”. Avoid this type of routine, otherwise you’ll wake up one day and be in the same spot as you were the day before and the day before that. Very bad!

Good routine facilitates creativity and change by putting you in the clearest of mindsets. It allows you to see life in new perspectives. This is the routine that promotes thought and productivity. This type of routine removes waste by allowing you to process improve each aspect of your life. I call this “Clarity routine” because it promotes optimal clarity and thought.

Find out how to embrace Clarity routine and eliminate Ground Hog’s day routine and you will be well on your way to much higher levels or productivity.

If you are familiar with Lifehack.com’s “Mind Hack” posts this is the first Mind Hack post for ActionsTalk.com.  I hope that this changes the way that you approach decision making and benefits you in you career and your life.

Decision making is one of the most important skills an individual can learn.  People say that life is just a series of decisions and they’re right!  Every situation you encounter in life is going to present a different set of opportunities and your ability to decipher what the right decision is can literally make or break you.  This applies to ones personal life as well as ones career.  My method of decision making is very helpful but a little different than most peoples.  It is very common to just list the pros and cons and whichever list is longer go with that choice.  We’ll I go a step further and I apply a weight or a degree of importance to each pro and each con. Then I add the numbers up and that is my choice.  It is a very simple and logical way to help you make up your mind with big decisions.  For this example I will use the decision to move away from San Diego (awesome) and come to Chicago (pretty sweet). 

First the PROS… (Always start positive):

·         Friends  weight: (9)

·         Girlfriend (9)

·         Job opportunities (6)

·         Great social life (4)

·         New experiences (8)

·         Challenge & Out of comfort zone (4) – yes this is a positive

Total: 40

Then the CONS…

·         No more surfing (4)

·         Away from Family (7)

·         The slight (very slight) possibility that I would ever life in SD again (10)

·         Leaving SD friends (8)

·         Leaving a solid network of job opps (2)

·         Chi-towns beach vs. beaches in SD (3)

Total: 34

40 points to move to Chicago, 34 to stay in San Diego…thus, my decision to move to