Sunday, January 16, 2011
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Where Have All Your Hours Gone?
A friend was sharing with me how the turn over has been record high in her company, not because of higher pay packages or greener pastures out there but rather a result of more and more people re-prioritizing their lives to attain work-life balance. And the demanding work load and schedule just doesn't allow that.
Is this whole thing about work-life balance overrated? And how do we know which end of the scale we are at in this balancing act? Sometimes the best way to derive answers for such unperceivable questions is to quantify them!
Isn't this what we learn from our work anyway? How are we doing this quarter? Oh.. let's look at some numbers. Do you think we should grow this part of the business? Oh... let's look at some numbers. Sounds familiar hoh ;-)
Anyway, coming back to this.
Do not get overly excited because this is no ingenious formula at all. Friends who know me for long enough would know that with my aptitude for anything mathemetical (which is almost non-existent), I would not possibly come up with anything more profound than the times-table.
Step 1:
Classify your daily activities into 3 to 4 key areas which you spend time on (e.g. Work, Family, Personal Time). Of course if you are someone who is very anal about the granularity of things... by all means break them up into sub-categories like exercise, TV, reading, shopping etc... but hey... this is supposed to be a 5 min exercise and who has so much time anyway :)
Step 2:
Estimate the number of hours you typically spend on each area in a week.
Step 3:
With 168 hours a week, you can then easily work out the percentage of time you spend in each area.
It is so simple that I feel almost idiotic to have a step-by-step instruction.
So what is the whole point of this? Well, for a start, it presents you a quick view of how "balanced" your life is. And if that is not your idea of a "balanced" life, just start moving the hours around! Of course that is easier said than done.
A little insight to my current results...
Work: 30%
Justin: 12.2%
Personal: 9.8%
But that makes up only 52%...then I realised with shameless guilt that I spend a good half of my time SLEEPING ?!?! I tried to rationalise it with all the other miscellaneous stuff like showering, eating, dressing up blah blah but still.... I have some serious reshuffling to do.
Go do it when you have that few moments while waiting for that FB page to load or that computer to restart. It may yield interesting results.
Is this whole thing about work-life balance overrated? And how do we know which end of the scale we are at in this balancing act? Sometimes the best way to derive answers for such unperceivable questions is to quantify them!
Isn't this what we learn from our work anyway? How are we doing this quarter? Oh.. let's look at some numbers. Do you think we should grow this part of the business? Oh... let's look at some numbers. Sounds familiar hoh ;-)
Anyway, coming back to this.
Do not get overly excited because this is no ingenious formula at all. Friends who know me for long enough would know that with my aptitude for anything mathemetical (which is almost non-existent), I would not possibly come up with anything more profound than the times-table.
Step 1:
Classify your daily activities into 3 to 4 key areas which you spend time on (e.g. Work, Family, Personal Time). Of course if you are someone who is very anal about the granularity of things... by all means break them up into sub-categories like exercise, TV, reading, shopping etc... but hey... this is supposed to be a 5 min exercise and who has so much time anyway :)
Step 2:
Estimate the number of hours you typically spend on each area in a week.
Step 3:
With 168 hours a week, you can then easily work out the percentage of time you spend in each area.
It is so simple that I feel almost idiotic to have a step-by-step instruction.
So what is the whole point of this? Well, for a start, it presents you a quick view of how "balanced" your life is. And if that is not your idea of a "balanced" life, just start moving the hours around! Of course that is easier said than done.
A little insight to my current results...
Work: 30%
Justin: 12.2%
Personal: 9.8%
But that makes up only 52%...then I realised with shameless guilt that I spend a good half of my time SLEEPING ?!?! I tried to rationalise it with all the other miscellaneous stuff like showering, eating, dressing up blah blah but still.... I have some serious reshuffling to do.
Go do it when you have that few moments while waiting for that FB page to load or that computer to restart. It may yield interesting results.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
First Words
Like many other parents, I can't wait for Justin baby to utter his first words. For months, the only sounds coming out of his mouth were some language unknown to any earthlings. Simply put, he was only capable of making noises.
These few days, he seems to conjure up this one word... ok...there is no such word but he repeats it several times a day that it is almost convincing.
And that almost-sound-like-a-word word is.........."MUMBA!" :)
Before you alternate tab or open a new window to check out this word on Dictionary.com, let me save you the trouble as that returns no results.
It does not matter that this word does not exist and it does not matter that it may be a meaningless sound to others. To me, that is Justin baby's first word. In fact, I believe he means "I am happy!". Simply because I can tell from his eyes that he means it :)
These few days, he seems to conjure up this one word... ok...there is no such word but he repeats it several times a day that it is almost convincing.
And that almost-sound-like-a-word word is.........."MUMBA!" :)
Before you alternate tab or open a new window to check out this word on Dictionary.com, let me save you the trouble as that returns no results.
It does not matter that this word does not exist and it does not matter that it may be a meaningless sound to others. To me, that is Justin baby's first word. In fact, I believe he means "I am happy!". Simply because I can tell from his eyes that he means it :)
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Junk or Art
The next time you wonder what to do with the empty cans & containers... here's an idea.
I spotted this raw yet detailed piece of creation in the most unassuming place - an old hawker centre right at the doorsteps of where I grew up.
While it is nothing in the likes of an award winning piece of installation art, I was still captivated by how it sets itself apart from those run of the mill recycling messages.
Here are more shots for a closer look.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Language Blunders
What does one do while waiting for the lift that always seem to take ages to come? You start scanning through notices decorated around them. This was what I came across sometime back. Not sure if you notice what was wrong with it but I certainly did.
As I was taking the shot, I realised I was definitely not the first who noticed the blooper. I am saying this in my own defence that the cross was not my doing. If you look closer, you will know what I mean.
Should one classify that as public service or vandalism? I am inclined to feel it is the latter. If not, why wouldn't he or she do everyone a bigger favour by replacing it with the correct word instead of just stopping at a cross?
Perhaps he or she wasn't too sure either.
I cannot deny I was tempted to complete the unfinished business but not only did I not have a pen with me... my lift had also arrived... finally :)
By the way, doesn't anyone proof read these RC notices? Maybe it is time they start doing so.
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