Austin360 blogs > Digital Savant > Archives > 2010 > March > 16 > Entry
SXSW Panel: Balance is Bull@#*!
Date/Time: 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 16
Panelists: Stephanie Klein, blogger and author of “Straight Up and Dirty” and “Moose,” and Jennifer Lancaster, author of “Bitter is the New Black” and most recently “Pretty in Plaid”
The Gist: Creating a perfect balance personal and professional demands in today’s online age is nearly impossible. Or does it just boil down to how we look at it?
Takeaways: We all hear “work hard, play hard” but that just turns out to be hard, Klein said. Everyone says to find balance and moderation, but Klein says she gets nothing done if if everything is in moderation. “When I choose to work, I can’t help but feel like I’m choosing work over my children. And that sucks and I shouldn’t be feeling that way.”
We need to find a way to make peace with ourselves and our choices by acknowledging that perfection isn’t an attainable goal.
Making to-do lists and deadlines can help us stay on task instead of piddling time away on social networks or other distractions. If you give yourself a strict deadline, you manage to get it done, no matter how short the time is. It’s those times that we have the “whenever” attitude that we don’t get things done.
Use tools like the Pomodoro technique, which suggests working 25 minutes straight on one task and then giving yourself a five minute break.
Ask yourself: What do I want more of in my life and what do I want less of, and then find the courage to say no to what you don’t want more of.
Quote:
Klein: “Wishing takes the same amount of time as planning,” so if you don’t find joy in what you do, find something else to do.
Audience member: “Happy parents are good parents. I’m a lot happier when I’m with my daughter when I’m happy with myself.”
“You’ve got to find what your brand of balance is.” That could mean four-day work weeks, “silent Sundays” (where no Internet is allowed) or setting strict office hours.
Klein: “I strongly believe that I’m a good role model in teaching my children that I have my own passions and that they’re not the center of the universe.”
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By QCait
March 16, 2010 8:16 PM | Link to this
I really, really, really enjoyed this panel. Stephanie and Jennifer were insightful, entertaining, and had the right balance of audience participation & their own ideas. I am definitely going out to buy their books based on their wit. Thumbs up for sure.
- @qcait