Working Girl

Today was movie day. I've been recovering from a cold and decided to spend the day in front of the TV enjoying Netflix. Movie number 3 was "Working Girl" starring Melanie Griffiths, Harrison Ford and Sigourney Weaver. My wife hadn't watched this movie so we decided to give it a shot.

The basic plot is there's this smart personal assistant, who's trying to make it in the world of big business but she's finding it tough. As a young women in NYC in the 80's, no one's taking her seriously. It's basically a feel good chick flick with a happy ending, but I also think it makes some important points as Tess (Melanie Griffiths) makes her way to ultimate success:

1. Tess spent a lot of her time mastering her craft (And I mean mastering, and I mean a lot of time and I mean "her craft", i.e. something she loves doing). When she wasn't getting coffee, picking up laundry, carrying luggage, etc, etc for difficult bosses, she was reading about and being exposed to the world she loved (business) and dreaming up deals (mergers and acquisitions).
2. She valued her friendships. She seemed to empathize with her workers, friends, brides on their wedding day, even cheating boyfriends starting their own business. She didn't lose sight of the human factor. And it's funny how her killer business idea also has this empathy at it's core. i.e. She seemed to put herself in the shoes of the company she ultimately helps to succeed.
3. She wasn't afraid to take risks and break the rules (especially when those rules didn't make sense). There's a great line in the movie when she tells her friend, that she's not going to spend her life following bunch of rules designed to hold her back, that she had absolutely no part in creating!
   
   
4. She had a little luck along the way. I can bet she never knew exactly where all the effort she was putting in was going to lead her. Often the way forward isn't clear, but I think there's no denying she focused on what was important and what she loved to do and the rest took care of itself. Sometimes you make your own luck especially when you're spending time making yourself stronger.

So here's a little toast to the weeks and months ahead: May they be filled with friends, mastery, a few risks and a little luck. Have a great week!

 

There is no scale

We draw distinctions between the quality of time we spend at work versus away from work. We sometimes refer to the latter as "free" time which raises interesting questions about how we might regard the former.

Regardless, the difference in perceived quality between time spent in and away from work is significant enough to give rise to a need for balance. This is commonly referred to as the "work / life balance". But can you successfully balance the two? I mean, on one side of the scales you have everything (aka Life) and on the other side you have ... work? This odd pairing gives rise to some interesting questions:

1. Is it really life and work on the scales?
2. What forces are at play in the lives of those who seem to have this balance?
3. What's the payoff?

The way I see it, people who achieve this balance love every aspect of their life, including the significant portion the rest of us call "work". How they develop this perspective is a separate question, it's something I'm trying to work towards. So far, I don't think it necessarily involves changing job, I sense it has more to do with adopting a different outlook (more on this in future posts ;-). The payoff is that for these people there is no scale.