family

  • Buffer
  • Sharebar
  • Buffer
jethro's picture

Work Life Balance

We hear a lot about work life balance these days. ITs a big problem for a lot of people and its something i definitely struggle with also.

One of the main reasons i struggle with it is because my life is my work. I am passionate and excited about what i do – well most of it anyway, and as such my every waking moment and some of my sleeping ones are planning and thinking about work.

Slide1But what is my work? For me it includes web development, photography, sports coaching and software development (those dreams are nightmares usually). I have fun doing all those things, I love the interaction with clients customers and staff and I am passionate about my art.

My relax and off times are often found with a camera in hand having fun with my family. We go the beach, the park, fly a kite and i have two motives, one is to go and hang our with the girls and have fun and the other is to take some photos. I explore new ideas, try new techniques and still manage to interact with the girls.

My Spiritual side – my Christian life – is completely bound up in who I am and what I do. I am a member of the High Calling Website because i completely believe that my work is as much a part of my spiritual being as anything else. They are featuring a fair number of my photos there in their articles which is fantastic.

My sports and exercise are more than ever involved with my family now. I used to play sports that did not involve the family such as AFL football and Soccer and squash. three years ago i made a decision to quit football, not because i wasn’t excited about playing anymore but because i wanted to put that time into sports and exercise pursuits with my family. Now I run, cycle and exercise with all my family on a regular basis. I still do more extreme riding than the family is up to both on the road and mountain bike.

Slide2So – I reject this common expression of balance as an impossibility. No ones lives are segmented like that.

Instead I prefer an overlapping holistic view that to some extent allows separation but also shows the overlapping nature of life’s components.

How do you manage balance in your life? Do you have techniques or ideas that work for you? Comment below or on Facebook.

Here are some links from The High Calling about balance.

Work-Life Balance Doesn’t Exist

Keeping Your Life Balance

jethro's picture

Random stuff from my brain

Sometimes i need to just dump stuff out of my head. Sometimes my kids just say the funniest random things. Judith went out to my daughter at the clothes line couple of days ago while she was hanging out clothes to get a peg. Jadeen just randomly said “I am a stegosaurus”. That phrase has been bouncing around this house since then amidst lots of laughter.

2403693037_0b63bdc4b4_bOur brains are amazingly complex things. Sometimes we just do no appreciate the incredible processing power of simple things like coordinating even our vocal cords, diaphragm, lungs and mouth and tongue just to say a simple word. I was listening to Doctor Karl on Triple J explain how Turrets Syndrome caused people to swear occasionally (its not the most common symptom of Turrets and most people with it don’t do this) and he just reminded me to think about how our brains work.

Last night I dream about alien people and apparently asked out loud for a sword (according to Jude).

2012-04-29 Corporate Challenge 2012 Race 3 751 788Yesterday I was able to run 3 kms with no knee issues – I wish I was back to the running ability I had back in the year 2000. However I’m coming to terms with being 12 years older then I was then and my running is fine as long as I don’t try and run like a 32 year old any more. I did a 5km race a couple of weeks ago and managed a personal best in the last 5 years or so so I am slowly getting it back.

Do you run? if yes where and when, if no – why not? Get into the comments or hit us up on Facebook.

2012-05-13 Fat Possum 004My cycling has improved a lot since I got the new road bike and have been focusing on my hill climbing. My Mountain biking climbing endurance has improved as a result. Unfortunately my Gary Fisher Fat Possum broke in half on my last ride. I am waiting on Trek to honour the lifetime warranty and replace her.

Work has been interesting of late. Since I am no longer employed by IT Integrity and have gone back to being my own boss the pressure on my time has reduced. I am doing far more photography, as that is part of our business and we have had a lot more work in that area. I am doing more of the things I love in IT, web design and Excel work. I am enjoying learning new photography and Photoshop processing techniques. I am really enjoying the sports shooting we do as well.

Samsung-Galaxy-S-II_1-300x300I bought a new phone. After a disastrous attempt to get an iPhone to work without using iTunes I bought a new Samsung Galaxy IIS and am loving its ease of use, its synchronisation with my Google account and my other android devices, the HTC Desire S and the Motorola Xoom 2 tablet. Its great having all my photos from each device synch seamlessly together with Dropbox, my notes in Evernote all synch across all my devices and it works as a phone out of the box without having to connect it to a computer.

 

I’ll leave you with a selection of my favourite photos taken recently.

2012-05-05 Gold Coast Spit 0392012-04-22 Supanova GC 367 cartoon2012-05-06 Drew and Laurel 0262012-04-22 Supanova GC 5352012-04-28 Roller Derby 6242012-04-06 Peter and Kitti Pregnancy 2072012-05-13 Sarah Maguire 049 - desat2012-05-06 Shell 025-makeup2012-04-09 Warrarba Creek 0222012-04-10 PRIMA JCS Production Shoot 832

jethro's picture

Time management and this blog

So I’m normally pretty good at time management. I even teach others how to time manage. So why do i never get time to write on this blog.

There’s lots of little excuses but there’s one really good reason – and that is I haven’t prioritised writing on here.

So that is going to change. Starting now.

I know there are lots or people reading this website – thousands in fact every day. Some of you come for the Microsoft Excel tips – ok lets face it most of you do. Some others come because you know me and are friends and family and want to see what I am up to. Others come for my photography. And others come for some random weird internet searches.

So today is a personal update. I will be looking to write and post Excel tips (and other office tips) as regularly as possible – in fact I’m prioritising it in my diary right now. Thanks be to Outlook.

And here is a picture of me working hard.

2012-04-05 Mt Beerburrum 090

Actually its a picture of my beautiful bride of 17 years walking down Mt Beerburrum with me last week.

Now back to work.

jethro's picture

She Is

She relaxes in my arms

She opens up to me

She is

My wife

 

2010-02-13 Private Collection 029 - faceShe dresses up to please

She undresses to seduce

She is

My lover

 

She listens to my words

She wants to know my fears

She is

My friend

 

She slips her hand into mine

She spends time with me

She is

My companion

 

She is