Day 2: Failed

Ok, so i failed. I admit it.
Its 11.30 at night, and I've spent most of the day at the computer.
In my defense, I have good reason to justify why I failed.
As a wannabe academic, I had deadline for a research paper, a review to finish for a medical journal, and an assignment to finish for a masters course.
So, this beckons the question: is it high treason not to achieve ideal work-life balance.
On today's evidence, my workload meant little time for 'life' - this sounds very melodramatic. It sounds like the two are mutually exclusive. Workaholics may argue that working is their life, which further confuses the balance argument.
I ate, went to the gym, dropped my SO off at the airport and watched one of the wild-card games. That's pretty good IMHO.
My task in the next week or so is to see what google has to offer, and then see what the competition is saying!!!
All will be revealed in future postings.
In the meantime, I go to bed wondering if balance is the right word, i prefer struggle.

Day 1: the investigation begins. Where else to start but with the big G

Day 1: the investigation begins. Where else to start but with the big G!
So as I take a deep breath, and boldly open the door to the e-world of blogging. A wave of relief hits as I get the first sentence out of the way (albeit with a large scoop of melodrama).
Why am I doing this?
Well: number 1:
I've never blogged. I've always thought that it was self-indulgent BS which provided people with the opportunity to wax lyrical about the themselves, show glossy photos of themselves in gangsta poses (you know, little finger, index finger and thumb out, others in) next to the taj-mahal and Christ the redeemer and cute photos of family or pets with hats on. Although having just seen Julie and Julia, I realize that this doesn't apply for everyone.
Number 2:
Been generally crap at balancing work-life, I've been wondering more and more about the following:
What is BWL? (As you've guessing i'm abbreviating here).
Is it really important and if so why?
It's certainly more topical: there are companies, armchair psychology books for the eternally needy and daytime TV shows providing cute 5 minute soundbites to succeed.
How do we define success here, and has anyone achieved this?
What can we do to improve the balance?
How can we measure the degree of change that we need to 'tip the scales'?
Number 3:
Why not? After all, it will break me away from CSI reruns, and give me the chance to explore more about this.

So where should we start first? The most obvious place is the big G (GOOGLE)
I googled 'work-life balance' and pushed return.
Let's check out the first 3 hits.
Hit 1 and 2. Company called 'work-life balance' - The leader in dual purpose learning. Must have paid big wonga to get the first hit.
Well come back to this later.
Hit 3. Mayo clinic summary blurb to how to do it in 2 pages.
They have a paragraph on how work invades your personal life due to global economic factors e.g. competition for jobs (i go along with that),international business (what???? - this misleading bolded subtitle has text related to antisocial work hours infringing on personal time), advanced communication technology (like a blog! here they briefly mention how people work in different geographical locations), the dual-career couple. Moving down the page they highlight how work affects your physical health, family/friends and the vicious cycle of 'wanting to do more'. Page 2 on the mayo quickie guide to success: tips to find the right balance: keep a log, change your work-schedule, learn to say no, leave work at work, manage your time (essentially being better organized), rethink your cleaning standards!!?! This is a good one ' An unmade bed or sink of dirty dishes won't impact the quality of your life. Do what needs to be done and let the rest go. If you can afford it, pay someone else to clean your house.' I find this rather insulting to assume that it's ok to be messy and accept poor hygienic standards in the kitchen in order to get more time for 'life' stuff. Im guessing that the author is lucky enough to have a maid.

I don't particularly feel better informed thus far, so time for a break from work-life balance!
Well carry on down the google list next time, and look at some more specific info from hit 1 as well.
Au revoir.
Alex