Particularly in my early career I divided myself. At work there was work-Amanda. At home there was not-at-work Amanda. It seems, today, there is more acceptance of a softer divide for all professionals. In fact a growing freelance community and more work-from-home privileges for many professionals suggest that more of us are looking for a less harsh divide between our work selves and our home selves. As work takes over more of our free time we start looking for bright spots like: work from anywhere or taking a mindfulness minute in the middle of the day.
Just starting to gain steam are conferences for freelancers and entrepreneurs that bring together all the elements of a good life including sound business practices with sound health and wellness practices. In these conferences a how-to-rapidly-innovate session can live right next to a how-to-perform-radical-self-care session. The assumption is that freelancers and entrepreneurs are traveling this path because they want the mix of a great work and great home experience.
But everyone wants this, right?
More and more I hear about conference directors and event planners experimenting with early morning yoga classes, meditation moments and rejuvenation spots at professional conferences. Yay for these experiments! I don’t know if these exact ideas will work for every association, every member or every conference but, I do think we are starting to point in an interesting direction.
Everyone wants a better life at work and at home; professionally and personally. It seems there’s a big opportunity waiting for us when we look beyond strictly business focused content. What more can we do for our members’ whole selves?
Onward!
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