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Work-Life Integration
8
January, 2019
Work–life balance is the term used to describe the balance that one needs between time allocated for work and other aspects of life. In recent history this term has come to the forefront and technology highlights it even more with the 24-hour work day. Most people find it to be an unattainable goal at best, others deem it a flat out lie of society. I’m going to go with something more like bigfoot – I’m sure people have “seen” it (wink, wink), and most people know what it is but there’s little, if any, proof of its existence.
The performance industry is certainly not immune to it, and I think may even be more prone to a work-life imbalance. People with an ultra-competitive nature are driven to succeed and place it above other aspects of their lives. We all know those people, our athletes tend to be those people, and even I tend to be one of those people.

However, early on in my career I understood the importance of my family and doing activities I enjoy in addition to loving my work. Time spent doing those things is what helps keep me from burning out, I get recharged after time with my family or a couple hours doing a hobby I love. The more experience I got the more I made it a priority for both myself and my staff around me. BUT I don’t strive for bigfoot, instead I choose work-life integration!

Work-life integration is more realistic for those of us in the performance industry – having my family eat lunch or dinner with me in the athletic dining hall; inviting my staff over for a BBQ to show my appreciation while also enjoying my love of cooking; etc. It takes work every day to keep my competitive nature in check and do what’s right for my performance in the long run.

Don’t get me wrong, I put in plenty of 18-hour work days when I was beginning in the industry but longevity in the performance world requires taking care of yourself just as much as you preach to your athletes to take care of themselves. Every athlete has at some point or another thought (and probably verbalized) that their coach can’t do what they’re teaching/coaching. Work-life integration is one area where you should pride yourself on doing what you teach!

“I don’t strive for bigfoot, instead I choose work-life integration!”

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I am available by email at performance@pativey.com, on social media, or the contact form below.

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