Overwhelmed, Work, Love and Play When No One Has the Time
By: Brigid Schulte
“What if not just women, but both men and women, worked smart, more flexible schedules? What if the workplace itself was more fluid than the rigid and narrow ladder to success of the ideal worker? … And what if both men and women became responsible for raising children and managing the home, sharing work, love, and play? Could everyone then live whole lives?”
We at ThirdPath Institute couldn’t agree more! Read on for a quick overview of Brigid’s best-selling book. Not only will it help you understand why too many of us are feeling overwhelmed, it will also inspire you about how to take steps towards change.
PART ONE – TIME CONFETTI
Schulte draws the reader into the topic of overwhelm by sharing some of her own personal experiences using good natured wit and raiser sharp observations. Quickly she learns overwhelm isn’t just a personal problem – it’s a topic being experienced, researched and discussed globally. In chapter four – “The Incredible Shrinking Brain” – Schulte once again backs up her findings with scientific research showing us how our “modern times” are negatively impacting our ability to think.
PART TWO – WORK
In this section Schulte takes a cold hard look at just how much our workplaces continue to reward the ideal worker – the person who arrives first in the morning, leaves last at night, is always ready for travel, and never turns off work even on vacation. She then demonstrates how this ideal is in direct conflict with the way most of us can, or want, to work. By the end of this section she provides some of the most inspirational examples we’ve read highlighting organizations doing things right – whether it’s the workplace that kicks people out who are working late, or the one who puts a spotlight on professionals successfully integrating work and life. Schulte clearly demonstrates – white collar or blue collar – how work can be done differently. She ends with another inspiring example in her “bright spot” titled: “If the pentagon can do it, why can’t you?”
PART THREE – LOVE
Schulte then shifts her focus to what’s happening at home and puts a big spotlight on our work at ThirdPath Institute. It’s in this section she begins to realize: “The overwhelm, I was finding, was about so much more than jut getting Mom a gift certificate to a spa to calm down, or telling her to breathe deeply at stoplights (the advice I got). This was about sustainable living, healthy populations, happy families, good business, sound economics, and living a good life.”
PART FOUR – PLAY
In the beginning of the section on play, Schulte travels to Denmark to better understand what happened to leisure time. She chooses Denmark because time studies report Danish women have more leisure then any other countries studied. What she discovers is that the Danish people and government’s progressive approach to work and family – including involvement of men at home – results in both men and women having more time for life. Quoting the founder of the National Institute for Play, she also reminds us that through play, “The brain creates rich new neural connections that fire together in new ways.” Yes, work and love are an important part of our lives – and so is play!
PART FIVE – TOWARD TIME SERENITY
In the final section of her book she shares some of the personal lessons she has learned as well as the people she has met who have been inventing a new path, one that will help all of us more successfully push back at our sense of overwhelm and find time for work, love and play.
You can purchase the book from Amazon by clicking Brigid Schulte or click here for an independent bookseller near you.