Introducing Future Work-Life

Future Work/Life is a weekly newsletter that casts a positive eye to the future. I bring you interesting stories and articles, analyse industry trends and offer tips on designing a better work/life. If you enjoy reading it, please SUBSCRIBE HERE, and share it!

My brain works in peculiar ways. Whenever I need to remember a pin code or number combination of any type, I segment it into pairs and relate if I can to either significant events in German history, football or, preferably, both.

For a while, the pin for my debit card was 9071, which, for in my mind obviously meant Italia ’90 World Cup + German Unification (the Bismarck one, not reunification).

My Germanophile tendencies manifest in obscure cultural references hence why I’m starting the first of my Future Work-Life newsletters with one. Hopefully, this isn’t enough to lose you after only three paragraphs!

There’s a behavioural bias called the Frequency Illusion, colloquially known as the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon after the paramilitary group that arose in Germany in the 1970s. The short explanation is that it means that something you’ve either just learned or becoming more interested in suddenly seems to appear everywhere.

It’s useful to think of this as a combination of two better-known biases.

Selective Attention - our brains are very good at ignoring irrelevant information and noticing things in which we’re interested.

Confirmation Bias - we prioritise information and data that back up our own beliefs and opinions.

I’ve spent the last few months analysing the future relationship between our work and personal lives, which is perhaps why this cognitive bias resonates with me right now.

World events have accelerated discussions about changes to peoples work-lives, with innumerable articles about how to approach working-from-home, the challenges (and benefits) of video conferencing, and how to manage a team remotely.

There’s some useful stuff in amongst all of that, but it frequently brings to mind a quote from composer and occasional philosopher, John Cage, who said, “I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I’m frightened of the old ones.”

In other words, humans have an unfortunate habit of designing solutions for the future that mimic those of the past. It’s through this lens that many are pontificating about how lockdown and the gradual emergence out of it will impact the way we work.

How can we ensure our face-to-face meetings continue online?

How do we monitor how much work people are doing?

Are our employees working a full day?

Even those more enlightened amongst us seem to be positioning the current crisis as a testing ground for occasional working-from-home — ‘flexible working’ as they mistakenly term it.

We never know, of course, what the future will bring. Sh!t, I’d like to know when I’m going to be able to leave my house for anything other than a walk around the same park. Future Work-Life is, though, my attempt to draw attention to some of the less commonly discussed themes related to the future of work and, critically, how that intersects with our personal lives.

Guy Kawasaki’s Remarkable People podcast series offers a fascinating glimpse into the lives of individuals from all sorts of background. The common theme in their stories is the optimistic view that we can work collectively to create a better future.

Take Shaun Thomson, for example. A champion surfer in his younger years, having experienced great success but also tragedy in his life, he advocates we live by a set of principles that he calls his ‘code’ — derived and defined by a life surfing.

Three points stand out from this for me as we look at the present and future of both work and personal lives.

1. I will never fight a riptide.

There are some forces against which we cannot fight. Exceptional circumstances mean it’s ok to focus on just ‘being’ and to put our ambitions and goals temporarily on hold.

2. I will watch out for surfers after a big set [of waves].

At times like this, we must take responsibility to look after ourselves and those around us — our friends, family and community.

3. I know that there will always be another wave.

New opportunities arise from periods of great adversity. Critically, we all have a chance to redefine what’s important in our lives and to make choices that can lead to greater happiness for ourselves and others.

This an idealistic view, I know, but if ever there’s a time to indulge in some soul-searching and reflection, it’s now!

I recently wrote an article on how I used the Japanese concept of Ikigai to define my ‘purpose’, and it’s helped me establish systems to keep my mind and body healthy while maintaining some much-needed perspective.

Attempting to attain clarity on what's important can help us better understand  what we expect and demand from our relationship with work.

We’ve moved beyond discussions of work-life balance. Stew Friedmann suggests this phrase posits work and life in opposition to each other, necessitating one taking time from the other.

Should we, instead, align our work-lives, recognising the importance of shared purpose?

Is integration a more realistic representation of our relationship with work? It certainly feels like that at the time of writing, as this article from Lynda Gratton illustrates.

Can we aim to synchronise work with our lives, acknowledging the true order of things by putting personal priorities first?

Or is this just semantics? A reflection that we’ve had enough of the historical norms of work and that now is the time for change!

In the coming weeks and months, I’ll discuss various themes that can positively affect the interrelationship between work and life. These will include chronobiology, job crafting, the importance of outcome-oriented job design and how to synchronise family and work time.

I’ll analyse how taking a structured approach can help achieve flexible working that benefits both organisations and their employees.

I will also, inevitably, share my experiences as a working dad of three young kids.

Along the way, if there’s anything else that I think you might find interesting I’ll chuck that in there too, whether it be the increasing influence of artificial intelligence or, indeed, the role of 'human intelligence’.

Thanks again for subscribing to Future Work-Life and for reading this first, introductory newsletter.

Ollie