Welcome back to the weekly Work Management Roundup where we collect and curate articles from around the web that tackle work, promote productivity, or share advice on learning and self-improvement. This week, we tackle a potentially divisive topic: work-life balance. We give you two viewpoints, one from someone who says we should be enjoying work so that there's no need to balance it. Another who lays out a more practical approach to being overwhelmed. Read on! Work-Life Balance is Bullshit (Medium): German designer Tobias Van Schneider hates the term "work-life balance" because it immediately assumes one side (work) is evil and unenjoyable and must be balanced out with the other side (life) that is good. He says: if you don't enjoy your job enough to look forward to it, it may be time to seek new employment — or change your perspective. The Secrets to Work-Life Balance: Interview with Overwhelmed Author Brigid Schulte (Wrike): Here's another viewpoint: Schulte shares that we're overwhelmed not just because of work, but also because of our mindset and the culture of busyness that we're steeped in. The solution then is not to work longer hours, but to be more effective and tackle real priorities instead of multitasking ourselves into an unproductive coma. Why The 8-Hour Workday Doesn't Work (Forbes): Eight-hour workdays are a relic from the industrial age. A more productive approach is to structure your day into blocks — think 1 hour of work followed by 15 minutes of break. 3 Reasons Why Email is Dead (Wrike): The days of email's primacy as a collaboration tool are over. There are now better options. Here are three reasons why you slow things down by using your inbox as a PM tool. [Free eBook] It's Not You It's Me: Why Managers Need to Break Up with Email and Spreadsheets (Wrike): Tired of managing your tools instead of actually managing your work? Updating spreadsheets and looking through email threads for pertinent info are not the best use of your time. Download our free eBook to find out why. Motivation is Overvalued. Environment Often Matters More (James Clear): The physical shape of your environment affects your behavior? Actually, yes. Over a long time period, your personal characteristics tend to get overpowered by your environment. Time to design a better environment that promotes good habits and removes negative influences.
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