Setting the sliders

Inspired by a cycle of eight "Setting the sliders" notes dated March 2011, by Michael.

Life is an endless quest for a balance. As part of the nature, humans naturally search for it. The most popular type of balance these days is the work-life balance, being a theoretical response to ruthless corporations exploiting their staff much longer than during customary nine-to-five cycles. The corporations claim to foster the work-life balance, but since their declarations are hollow, the EU institutions have attempted to regulate it. Then the corporations will aim to circumvent those laws. Well, it is a topic for a separate post...

In this one I struggle to find trade-offs in manifold areas of life.

Getting involved in a romantic relationship, one gives up on a part of their independence. Being with some means minding their feelings and needs and undertaking commitments towards a life companion. This takes striving, but should not take bending over backwards. People pair up since benefits of being together outweigh nuisances of making concessions. I believe one should strike a balance between their autonomy as an individual and some indispensable sacrifices.

A part of turning an adult is taking responsibility for one's deeds and life. Psychologists posit those contraventing such scheme are afflicted by Peter Pan syndrome, attributed usually to males who refuse to grow up and farewell the carefree days of childhood. For me being responsible is a crucial part of adulthood and proves a man's maturity. Nevertheless, carefree moments ought to be pursued in life and cherished, bearing in mind life is not a bed of roses.

The above brings to mind the idiom "business before pleasure", which sadly has no equivalent in Polish. As a child, not prompted by my parents, after coming from school I firstly did my homework and then played. An adult life involves duties and doing them with humility is a part of our existence. With affluence, people tend to work more to shift the most mundane duties to others. The growing popularity of farming out house cleaning or ordering food catering boxes instead of cooking confirms such trend. But is it just convenience and making use of one's money to enhance the comfort of life, or... shunning duties?

"Failing to prepare is preparing to fail" - some say. Preparing involves planning and planning clashes with spontainety. Spontainety symbolises carefree life, lack of limitations and boundaries. Should we give on spotainety altogether? Do not dare to do so, don't let your daily routine underwhelm you, let in the element of thrill to your life, but whatever you do, do it prudently and mind the outcome.

Unless your ancestors were wealthy and thrifty, you have to work to earn a livelihood. Your wage is usually a combination of education, skills, luck, but not only. A correlation between how hard you work and financial gains maybe is not very strong, yet apparently positive. Having spent over 13 years in the corporate reality, I observe the propensity to work harder than others declines with age. This is perfectly in line with the curve of earnings, increasing with years of experience, rising affluence (a marginal utility of each next unit of income is lower), human body's lower tolerance for intensive working, but particularly with priorities changing over lifetime. The more you have accumulated, the more you cherish the time spent with family, friends, physical activity or fostering hobbies.

If you earn little, most likely your have to watch every penny before spending and barely make ends meet. When your income rises, you might spend more, but not necessarily have to. Day-to-day survival gives way to planning and long-term goals. One has to make a choice what portion on the current income to consume and how much to aside for the future and with what purpose in mind. Saving for the very sake of saving and spending for a very sake of spending are both no good. Both spending and saving (which means not just putting aside money, but looking for ways for paying less for something) deserve a wise, emotion-free approach.

While interacting with other humans one makes mistakes. A noble man can admit their mistakes and, if possible, make up for them. A noble man's trait is modesty too. Boasting of one's accomplishments outside the corporate world is not the most commendable method of underlining one's presence. A prudent man also knows their limitations and does not overestimate their skills. Humility then is a great virtue I believe, the one which helps one attain long-term goals.

Lofty ideas of a perfect world are cruelly confronted with imperfect reality. Life involves compromising, yet it should have some limits, with moral principals (universal or subjective) setting boundary of how far can we give up on ideal solutions we long for. Not every price is worth paying, but freeriding as sneaking through life without effort is not worthwhile too.

No extreme is good. Keep it in mind when making your daily choices, but also when going to the polls in five weeks...