A Fine Balance – The Podcast’: Season 2, Episode 8 Out Now
If you were told that your life had an “expiry date”, would you make any changes to how you balance your work with everything else?
Such is the reality that was thrust upon my latest podcast guest, Sam Franklin, when he was told recently that the cancer he’d been clear of for years had returned. In terms of his work-life balance, this news sharpened his priorities into focus. He says:
There is no balance, there’s just life, and work has got to fit in amongst that. We’ve got to work to pay our bills; we’ve got to work to have the lifestyles that we enjoy and to have the money to spend time with our families.
But certainly for me over the last few months when I’ve been unwell, I’ve at no point thought to myself “I wish I’d attended one more conference call”, or “I wish I’d replied to one more email“.
In hearing this, I was reminded of an interview I blogged about in 2020 with a surgeon who, privy to many patients’ final hours over the years, told me: “no one on their death bed wishes they spent more time at work”.
It’s easy to understand the logic. But, of course, finding a balance between work and life, isn’t so simple.
Works affords people purpose; a sense of value to their contribution to society and the world at large; satisfaction at the fulfilment of personal ambitions and expectations; and at witnessing the fruit of your hard labour.
Even Sam, with his sharp focus on the superior value he places on his time spent on the “life” rather than “work” side of his work:life ratio, concedes that giving up work due to health difficulties was a disappointing experience. Unsatisfying. Boring even.
Throughout the episode, Sam and my conversation also concentrates on what a superpower it is not being a perfectionist, and how Sam’s satisfaction with things being “good enough” has enabled him to pack in a remarkably busy career, volunteering commitments and home life.
Despite his recent health scares, Sam was in good form at the time of our interview, and was generously candid about how it feels to be presented with the question of an “expiry date”. His experience affords him a perspective that I feel grateful to have listened to, as a sobering reminder of how precious our time is, and how choosing how you spend it really matters.
It is a great privilege to share this podcast episode as the final one of 2023, and indeed the final episode of Season 2 of my podcast. With new year’s resolutions traditionally on the mind at this time of year, I hope my dear listeners will find Sam’s life-affirming story a thought-provoking and uplifting accompaniment to 2023 drawing to a close, and welcoming in 2024.
A little note of apology and warning to listeners of this podcast episode… You may notice that the sound quality of this episode is not up to the usual standard. Unfortunately, Sam and my ambition to record the podcast together in person surpassed my meagre microphone’s capabilities. Thankfully I managed to mostly salvage the sound, though listeners may need to adjust the volume on your listening devices throughout the episode. It does improve as the episode progresses so thank you in advance for sticking with it