The Workaholic Life PlaylistAre you a workaholic? Do you have trouble taking days off and doing nothing? Or doing something else that doesn’t look, feel or taste like work? If you did take days off, do you have any idea what you would do with those days? Many of my clients are workaholics. And most of them have been so for so many years they do not know any other groove. I ask them to create a life playlist...all the fun, non work related things they would like to do when they are not working. Most of the time, when I ask them to tell me what they would put on their playlist, they look back at me with blank, glazed eyes, completely lost as to any idea of what they would put on a playlist. They simply have no idea where to start. Indeed, they have completely lost connection with their creative,fun self that is not working.
People would probably consider me a workaholic as well. I have been self employed for 25 years. Hence it has always been up to me to generate and create income. I can remember when I could go to an island in the Pacific, or the beach, and sit and read for hours. Days even! Hmm...I could no more imagine doing that that I could imagine voluntarily pulling out my teeth. My workaholic syndrome has been with me for so long. However, I am lucky, as I have created my life to be rich in diversity. I get to work with clients, teams, groups, companies, nations. I get to write, I read books from every genre stretching from history, business, economics, leadership, running, politics, spirituality, comparative religions, science, personal development, psychology, poetry, fashion, cooking, sport...Given the topics I write about, I no longer see a distinction between work and play. Everything I do contributes to my work, because my work is about shared experience and learning how to be human in an ever changing world. My sport is my love and contributes to my work. My reading is my love and contributes to my work. My writing is my love and contributes to my work. My travel is my love and contributes to my work. My clients are my love and contribute to my writing. My staying current with global politics and business is my love and contributes to my work. Reading Vogue magazine is my love and contributes to my work. Reading the poetry of Hafiz is my love and contributes to my work. Shared laughter over coffee with my running girlfriends on a Saturday morning is my love and contributes to my work. There is less and less separation in my life between what is work and what is play. It was always an ambition of mine to have my work BE my play. How lucky am I that I have created this?
If you are a workaholic, then creating a life playlist is vital to your health. It will give you depth, and dimensionality, open your world, create new opportunities for you to learn. Lessons learned will translate to your work, and improve your whole self at work and in play. Questions to ask to get a life playlist startedWhat do you love to do that has you jump out of bed in the mornings before the alarm? (It can be easy things, like playing with the kids, or the dog. It can be sport, like golf, football, running; it may be doing something with your hands, like building, renovating, creating furniture, art..)What would be the MOST exciting thing you could think of that you would like to happen to you? Going somewhere, meeting someone, playing in “X” team, being on “Y” show, having a conversation with someone in “Z” language? Are there any places you would like to visit locally or globally? List them all down. Or are there adventures you would like to experience in certain places...like snowboarding in Japan, hiking the Inca trail, sailing in Tahiti, running the Comrades marathon, climbing Mt Kilimanjaro, cruising the Nile? Do you want to participate in ecotravel, or social tourism, and support communities in other parts of the world, by volunteering your time to build schools, teach kids..? Would you like to learn a new skill, like another language, or how to cook fabulous Chinese food, or buy investment properties, or paint?
Looking at activities on your playlist will give you an energy boost. Planning to do activities on your playlist will give you an energy boost. If no energy comes, then you may have put the wrong things on your playlist. You may have put things your family want, or things you think you should want. Once we have the start of our life playlist, now we have to choose which items we are going to action immediately, and which events we will plan for. On those days when you are drowning in your workaholic mode, and things look like they are going pear shaped, pull out your playlist, which could be part of your emergency tool kit , and get creative in the planning and implementation process. Notice your energy shift when you do. The poet Mary Oliver asks, “Are you breathing just a little and calling it a life?” Take a deep breath and learn to balance your workaholic self with a magical playlist. Here is a sample of my playlist in no particular orderRun Comrades Marathon South AfricaRun Paris, Berlin, London, Jungfrau, Prague marathon’s Climb Mt Kilimanjaro Run the Great Wall Marathon Travel Africa, India, China, Russia, Turkey, South America, Asia Sail through the outer atolls of Tahiti, Dive Rangiora Lagoon Learn Italian by living in Italy (immersion) Swim with the whale sharks, Ningaloo Reef or Tonga Swim with the dolphins Trek Nepal, Machu Picchu Snowboard in Japan, Europe, Canada Take more classes with Caroline Myss Eat pastries in Paris, pasta in Italy, chocolate in Belgium Drink Champagne in Reims, red wine in Italy, beer in Mexico Dance tango in Buenos Aires, salsa in Cuba, samba in Rio Write a novel Spend most of my days bare foot
To Return from Workaholic to Personal Sustainability
| ||
