6 am. What’s the first thing on your mind: work or life?

8 min readAug 2, 2021

photo © John McDermott | mcdfoto.com | Claudia resting in the woods

“A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always appears to be doing both.” — L.P. Jacks (English philosopher and educator)

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you wake up in the morning?

Are you honoring your needs, values, and goals? Are you grateful or worried? Are you realizing if you combine, merge or separate your work and life?

“When I wake up in the morning, I am looking forward to what I will learn today. If it’s from my work tasks today, or from the people around me or the people I meet or the happenings that shape the day”, told me a friend the other day on the phone. I like this answer much better than the often-heard answer: “What pops up first are the problems I have to face at work and the issues that are awaiting me.”

I realized how much it puts me on a positive track for the day if I first think about what I appreciate and am grateful for. And that I am curious about what insights and learnings I might end up with at the end of the day.

How much attention do you pay to your work and career and how much to the other aspects of your life?

I believe our work life, occupying a third of our day, should be a joyful part of our life, giving us a sense of fulfillment at the end of the day while not neglecting ourselves and our loved ones.

In this article, I will show you some examples of how people around me changed or adapted their work according to their desired lifestyle and give you a list of questions that help you become aware of your circumstances and mindset.

These are the sections we are going to explore: