Season 3, Episode 3 of ‘A Fine Balance – The Podcast’: OUT SOON
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“I’m not very good at work-life balance“, said my latest podcast guest sheepishly, after summarising that he chooses to spend 80-90% of his time working over doing anything else in life.
At the time of the podcast recording, Rami Madbouli, was working as a Private Secretary to Ministers in the UK Government’s Department of Health & Social Care.
When our paths crossed at work, and Rami heard about my podcast, he assumed that his work-life balance choices would be met with disapproval. On hearing that, on the contrary, the premise of ‘A Fine Balance’ is to celebrate the diverse ways that people balance their work with everything else in life, his sense of relief was palpable.
Being invited to embrace his approach to finding balance with pride seemed to run contrary to the usual reaction Rami receives when talking about such things. And it piqued his curiosity to learn more, the result of which is this podcast episode recording.
“People assume I’m heading towards burnout; that my lifestyle is unsustainable”, he told me.
But whether that’s how he feels about it himself is another matter.
That Rami applies a 90:10 figure on his work:life ratio was, as always, just a starting point to our conversation. In the process, we touched on:
- What it’s like when you feel proud and motivated by the mission of your work, even if you’re not paid any extra for working more than your contracted hours;
- Work being something that identifies who you are at any given stage in life;
- Finding balance in a relationship when both partners are career-oriented and ambitious;
- Making work-life balance choices that deviate from what’s considered “normal” by your peers both in and outside of work;
- Modelling your work-life balance choices according to your upbringing, and opting to make choices different to those that your parents made when you were growing up; and
- Rami’s tips for squeezing more into one day than you may have thought possible.
At the heart of his story though, was Rami’s description of being an introvert, and how he recharges his energy by spending time alone rather than by surrounding himself with other people. This provided a rich, and essentially logical, backdrop to the hours that Rami chooses to dedicate to his work, and, indeed, how he chooses to spend his time outside of work too.
Rami’s 90:10 work:life ratio is the highest figure weighting on the work side that has featured on ‘A Fine Balance’. What’s more, this is a work-life balance that – on the whole – works well for Rami, challenging the notion that in order to have a “good” work-life balance, you need to reduce the “work” side of your work:life ratio.
Indeed, it reaffirms the lesson that I keep coming back to again and again on this blog and podcast: that finding a “good” balance essentially means finding a balance that’s individually right for you.
To be notified when the episode featuring Rami Madbouli is ready to download, subscribe for the podcast here, or wherever you usually get your podcasts.
For links to the back catalogue of ‘A Fine Balance – The Podcast‘ episodes, go to: www.a-fine-balance.com/podcast.
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