Can Research About Aging Help You Find a Healthier Work/Life Balance?
Can Research About Aging Help You Find a Healthier Work/Life Balance?
One of the best parts of being a producer is having the opportunity to learn from fascinating people. In 2009, I had the opportunity to interview Dr. John W. Rowe, an expert in aging. He is a professor at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and at the time, he was the chair of the MacArthur Research Network on an Aging Society. I spoke with him about how our societal institutions could change in ways that would allow people to age more productively and equitably.
The conversation resonated with me for a number of reasons. My grandmother had passed away only a couple of years earlier…at nearly 102. In fact, a number of my family members from her era had lived well into their 90s, prompting a lot of conversations about aging along the way. Over the course of our discussion, Dr. Rowe introduced me to an idea that changed my views on work/life balance forever.
Learning, Work and Leisure
Dr. Rowe spoke about how our society has conditioned us to devote periods in our lives to very specific purposes. The young spend their time learning, the middle-aged work, and older people retire to a life of leisure. His research was focused on how older people could still be productive to society by continuing to learn and work in retirement, and in the process, experience better overall health as they age. What I took away from our conversation is that we’d all be healthier physically and mentally if we started thinking of these activities as “layers” rather than “columns.”
The old way of thinking:
The alternative:
The idea is that we should try to devote some of our time to learning, some to work, and some to leisure throughout our lives. Of course, the percentage of our time dedicated to each will change as our lives change, but enjoying some mix of all three activities regularly is a good goal. My conversation with Dr. Rowe led me to believe that the word “life” in the phrase “work/life balance” isn’t descriptive enough. I certainly need down time to decompress, and enjoying movies and TV shows is a big part of how I do that. But I started to be more cognizant of how much of my free time I was spending on them. I began to imagine learning as an important part of my life outside of work, along with more active pursuits. This philosophy can also provide a lens through which to view the demands of your job. Even if you aren’t working long hours regularly, are you left without energy for anything other than laying on the couch?
In 2009, I was keeping a pretty good balance between work and leisure but I don’t know that I was putting much energy into learning. Over the intervening years, I’ve found that I’m happier when I devote some of my time to reading or taking classes or even just attending webinars on topics that interest me. I also try to make sure I’m not devoting all of my “learning” time to topics designed help me in my career. This is something I’ve had to be diligent about as I’ve started my own company and thrown myself into learning everything I can about entrepreneurship.
I’ve started to think of this philosophy as a way to avoid burnout as well. For kids, this might mean easing up on the number of activities geared towards the college admission process. For mid-career adults, perhaps it means finding a way to stay active in a sport or activity, even if making time for it can be difficult. For an older adult, “working” might mean volunteering.
Our society could certainly make it a lot easier to find a healthy work/life balance. Child or elder care duties and health challenges alone can make finding the time to put this philosophy into action really difficult. Organizations and supervisors can help by fostering a culture of flexibility, and employees can be more forceful in advocating for the changes they’d like to see. But many of us have changed how we work over the last two years. And while any time of change is challenging, this may also be a great opportunity to figure out how each of us can achieve a healthier, more satisfying balance.
https://www.amazon.com/Successful-Aging-John-Wallis-Rowe/dp/0440508630#customerReviews
