I started my “fun job project” to explore how to make work awesome. Working in the opera has been so much fun but it’s also taught me so much that I didn’t expect.
On Saturday morning, I turned up for a stage rehearsal, waited around for an hour (this seems to be 80% of the job of an extra!) until the director decided he didn’t need us. Suddenly I had two hours of my time back. I decided to go to the zoo with my family.
It was a beautiful reminder that no matter how fun our time at work is, fun time with family is always best.
Our relationships outside of work with family and friends are the (scientifically proven) key to long-term life satisfaction and happiness. My own research into how covid changed our relationships with work suggests we collectively cottoned-on to this during lockdowns. Time with family came up over and over as a priority and this is the main factor factor behind the push for 4-day work weeks, work from home, hybrid work, etc.
If you’re a leader, this is the new reality, because no matter how great you are, no matter how wonderful your work culture is, no matter how much you pay, you can’t compete with family time at the zoo.
Work can be awesome but watching four big fat seals leaping into the water and catching fish with Otto is priceless.
What would you do with two extra hours of free time today?