Category: Life

How Does Your Personal Life Influence Your Work Life?

Time you spend at work is naturally influenced by your time at home. Can you think of how your personal life influences your work life?

Sometimes it seems like our lives are split into two parts: a work life, and a personal life. You might have work friends that are different than your personal friends. How you dress in each is likely different, and even how you act may vary from one to the other.

So it might seem like two different worlds. Of course, that’s not true at all. There is one big thing in common: you. You can’t help but have your personal life affect work, and vice versa. Particularly with many people working from home during the pandemic.

Listen to a podcast where Michael and Lee discuss a related question: ‘Are we too busy?’ We also discuss a bonus question: ‘What are our responsibilities to others?’

Can you think of any specific ways that what you do in your personal life impacts the work that you do? It might be something simple, like pictures of your family on your desk. But it could also extend to skills you learned at home being used in the office. Maybe something you read on your own time became meaningful somehow in doing your job.

Despite your best efforts, it is impossible to keep home and work completely apart (and perhaps you shouldn’t even try). What are some of the ways, positive or negative, that your personal life influences your work life?

Related questions: How has remote work changed your workplace culture? Who would serve on your personal board of directors? What do you do with a day off work? What is your dream job?

Why Do We Sleep?

Sleep is one activity that everyone engages in every night, and yet it remains something of a mystery. Do you have any theories on why it is we sleep?

It is obvious that our sleep schedule is tied to the day/night pattern. It certainly isn’t a coincidence that due to the earth’s rotation, it is dark every night, and we sleep every night.

Moreover, it seems pretty clear that sleep is the product of evolutionary pressures. Our very distant ancestors gained some advantage from being asleep every night that allowed them to survive, and possibly even to thrive.

However, we don’t know what that advantage is.

One possibility is that our senses leave us at a disadvantage to other predators in the dark. Our eyes do not allow us to see as well in the nighttime, nor do our ears hear so well as to make up the difference, compared to some of our animal competitors. Therefore, a survival mechanism is to keep humans inactive during the time when they are disadvantaged — at night — and concentrate their efforts in the daytime.

But why didn’t the eyes or ears evolve to be more sensitive? Other animals did, so why the difference in humans?

Another possibility is that our larger brains required more organization, and processing of information. For humans, this happens during the sleep cycle, in particular during REM sleep. This, in turn, requires long stretches of uninterrupted sleep, and that is easier at night with fewer distractions.

These are just two examples of possible explanations. Do you know of any others, or have a pet theory? In your opinion, why do we sleep?

Related questions: How many hours of sleep do you need? Do you have trouble sleeping? Early bird or night owl?

Who Do You Want To Reestablish Contact With?

Of all the people you have known over your lifetime, are there people you have lost touch with that you would like to contact once again?

As social animals, the relationships we have with others are tremendously important. Part of what makes life enjoyable is the pleasure we get from the presence of other people. The company of a good friend is irreplaceable.

And yet, as the years go by, we might lose touch with one or more of these people. There are many reasons why this might happen: someone moves away. Busy lives and/or full schedules. A falling out over religion, or politics, or some other personal matter. You can probably think of others.

Listen to a podcast where Michael and Lee discuss a related question: ‘Are we too busy?’ We also discuss a bonus question: ‘What are our responsibilities to others?’

Technology is a two-edged sword when it comes to maintaining relationships.

In some ways, it is easier than ever to stay in touch. People carry phones with them everywhere. Video conferencing is ubiquitous. Sending a text message or an email is fast and easy, and messages can travel around the world in a matter of moments.

However, social media — despite the name — inhibits social interaction. If you can read a post, scroll though someone’s feed, or watch a recording, why would you need additional contact? In fact, calls are frowned upon in favor of texts, yet a text message is much less interactive than a call.

Is there someone — or multiple someones — from your life that you wish you were more frequently in touch with? Whose company you miss, but for whatever reason you are no longer in regular contact?

If a good friend, or mentor, or confidant, has died, of course, they are beyond connection. Short of that, can you pinpoint exactly why you lost touch with someone you like? And what, if anything, might you do to change that?

Related questions: Who do you miss? What do you get out of social media? What are our responsibilities to others? Are we too busy?

What Was Your Last Big Change?

In order to keep improving, things need to change. Some changes are big; some small.What was the last big change in your life?

There seems to be something hardwired in human beings that makes us adverse to change. We like to get into a comfortable routine, and stay there.

This might seem to be for the best in the present, but in order to grow, change is necessary. Even though that may make us uncomfortable, it is necessary.

Listen to a podcast where Michael and Lee discuss a related question: ‘What are you willing to sacrifice?’ We also discuss a bonus question: ‘What do you believe?’

Change can come in all sorts of forms. You might start a new job, or get married, or buy something expensive. Those things might be classified as big changes.

Some things, though, may not seem very big. They might seem positively puny. And yet, in the end, that tiny change might end up having an out-sized impact. Can you think of examples from your life?

So, you can define “big” in any way you like. However you define it, what was your last big change?

Related questions: How have you changed? What makes change possible? Change or status quo? How can you change your attitude? Can people change?

Are You Aging Well?

If there is one thing that is certain in life, it is that aging happens. You are going to age. But are you aging well?

We all age, every day, for years on end. This is true despite socioeconomic background, race, age, political party, or language spoken. We all get older, inexorably, a second at a time.

Given that simple fact, it is reasonable to evaluate that aging process. We all do it, but it is true that some people are going to do it better than others.

But what does “better” even mean, in this context? What does it mean to “age well”?

For some, it might mean doing everything you can to life a long life.After all, if aging means “getting old”, why not do everything possible to stay young for as long as possible? Eat healthy food, stay physically fit, don’t take any unnecessary risks, and in general do what you can to live as long as you can.

Listen to a podcast where Michael and Lee discuss a related question: ‘How do you define success?’ We also discuss a bonus question: ‘Is happiness the most important purpose in life?’

For others, it might mean taking advantage of every moment, even if that means the total time is reduced. Seize the day! What is life if it is not experienced fully? Taking risks can lead to thrilling, exciting moments of feeling truly alive.

Another definition might be having the greatest impact. If you spread you love, kindness, and generosity to as many people as possible, you will be remembered fondly by a large population. If people are happy you existed because of the way you improved their life, isn’t that “living well”?

Ultimately, the definition is yours alone. You decide what it means to live well, and you also get to evaluate if you manage to meet your own definition.

It also can be done at any age. Teenagers can decide if they are becoming a good (or useful) person. Middle-aged people can determine if they are better than they were years ago. Someone in their twilight years can decide if their body is holding up to the passage of time.

However you decide to define it, are you aging well? What criteria are you using?

Related questions: What is the best part about getting older? The worst? What makes you feel old? What is time?