The Home, Work, Fun triangle
Published By Corey on Jun.06.2008 at 8:28AM
The Home Work Fun triangle, (henceforth called HWF) describes my method of keeping the major dimensions of life in balance. In this post I'll talk about the major players in my triangle and go over some basics in HWF self evaluation
When Ryan and I chose the name Full of Design it wasn't just about beautiful graphics and feature rich software. It was just as much about designing our lives to be full of the things we strive for. I want the opportunity to fill my live with my family, travel and squash, but to achieve that I'm 100% aware that work is going to play a big part. I've been trying to consciously live by keeping my HWF in check.
We're all responsible for letting the triangle become unbalanced once in a while. Overcommitment of your energy and time to one dimension causes another to suffer. In most cases an over investment towards the Work vertex brings about problems on the home front.
My repeat offender is sometimes there will be a project that grabs my interest so much it makes me put everything else on a back burner (or off the stove altogether). After a couple of days or weeks it becomes painfully apparent that Home and Fun are suffering and I tone down on the Work focus.
Home
Home is where I unwind with my wonderful wife Kandy and Full of Energy Mischevious Molly Martella. This is listed first because it is the most important dimension and also the first to get out of whack. What happens when you over or under commit to Home?
 The brewing storm. If you don't let this happen you'll be a lot better off. Trust me. |
 The altruistic mate. When family emergencies pop up you know everything else becomes secondary, but in day to day life are you giving yourself enough freedoms?. |
Work
Most of us work to pay the bills, I count myself among the supremely lucky that I love what I do and don't mind pouring my heart and soul into my work. I've been employed by a company that lived by the mantra "Work Hard. Play Hard" and I totally agree with it. The rewards from Home and Fun become amplified when you finish a slice of work that just leaves you thinking "Damn, thats some good work!". Work is also the dimension that most of us let miscommunicated expectations and overcommitment play a role
The ladder climber. If you have the kind of lifestyle to hyper focus on your career without consequence go for it but work isn't all things to all people.
Fun
This area is interesting in that in a perfect world is a superset of Home and Work. But I have personal interests, primarily being squash, that doesn't mesh with my home life. Take time for yourself at least twice a week to keep the battery charged (both physically and mentally) then come home happy and go to work ready to impress.
Your commitments to fun don't have to be time consuming or cause your disappearance from the home front. I love to take a break from work and rock out on a few Guitar Hero tunes. When you've had a tough morning at work find someplace at lunch to take your mind off things. I head to Chapters and browse the car magazines, oh Bugatti Veyron, when will you be mine!
Frank the tank. Corey circa 2002. Good memories, bad planning.
Thats some Zen stuff Corey but...
how do I implement it myself? Good question, I find each dimension can be evaluated by 3 metrics.
Time
It would seem obvious that spending 0 hours in a day/week/month at home would probably upset your significant other. However, in years past I quickly run out of fingers when I try to count the number of times I've been late for dinner or had to leave early in the morning and it went miscommunicated. Keep tabs on how much time you are (or aren't) devoting to each dimension.
Effort
In my books effort comes in two forms, physical and mental, but counts to one total. I know after a long game of squash I'll be too exhausted for errands so I make sure that before I play I check the to do list and see if theres any "utohs" on it.
Mental effort is the one that I have the most trouble realistically evaluating. There will be days of work that I'll rack my brain to no end trying to solve a problem but moments after recharging at home the solution appears. I totally believe the occurrences of eureka moments is correlated to keeping HWF in check.
Fight or Flight
When you're sitting at your desk and you can't concentrate because your thinking "Crap, I forgot to ____ the ____" that is the ideal Fight or Flight evaluation point. Do you fight through the mental reminder and get some work done? Do you take flight and clear your head? Be fair to yourself and your coworkers/family/friends fight through the minor annoyances and take flight for the major deal breakers.
Go forth and balance!
Score each metric on whatever scale you like. For time I give myself 5/5 for each dimension I feel I exceeded the time demands put on me, 3 if I met them and 1 or 0 if I let someone down. For effort if any dimension pushed me to the point of mental or physical exhaustion it gets a 0. If it recharged my battery or I feel that I opened a can of whoop ass on it the 5's show up. Fight or flight I leave as a + or -. If I fought through some major discouragement I add points. If I took flight to another dimension too often (leaving work to make errands) I take points off.
 Mr. Perfect. Setting high goals is great but... |
 Mr. Realistic sets himself reasonable goals and |