Vanya Wryter Consulting Services

Tag: dailyprompt

  • Work-Life Balance: Do you enjoy your job?

    Work-Life Balance: Do you enjoy your job?

    Those who love their job as if it were a hobby are lucky. This is even more true if their income is their ideal amount and their coworkers are great to be around. I certainly think of my job as something I could do even while on vacation and not consider myself as working. However, we need to draw the line somewhere–at what point is work intruding on personal time?

    Daily writing prompt
    Do you enjoy your job?
    View all responses

    Let’s weigh in on the question: What is work-life balance? How do you define it? Whether you have a work-life balance and whether you view clear boundaries between the two depends on how much you love your job. Here are some rare points of view to consider.

    Remote work has made it easier to blend home life and work life into one room (or house). Employers and clients may have the expectation that you’ll respond to messages or complete work tasks between 9 a.m. to … well, 9 a.m. the next morning. 

    As someone who manages projects, I’m answering work messages from morning til evening and on the weekends sometimes. Apps on smartphones have made it easier than ever to blur the lines between the office and personal time as we receive notifications even when away from the office.

    The constant plug-in to workplace communication and work tasks can be exhausting. People need a break from work to recharge and return to their tasks with fresh eyes. But is it bad to blend work and home life together?

    Some people love their career enough that working is as enjoyable as watching Netflix or playing video games. I’ve met some of these people (so they do exist).  

    If you enjoy your work as much as you’d enjoy a hobby, then is working extra hours synonymous with workaholicism or overachieving? Does it make a difference whether you’re designing a graphic for a client or painting a picture to hang on your wall?

    Some self-employed people live in their business. They are always reading or watching videos for self-improvement, or brainstorming new ways to increase their income or expand their products and services. Would this be considered overworking? It depends.

    Everyone should be learning new things, whether it is a new hobby, new skill, or general-interest knowledge. People challenge themselves with fitness goals, reading goals, or social goals. How is investing more time in your career or business any different, if you love what you do, and if you still have time for friends and family?

    If you enjoy what you do, then perhaps a job or business is no different than investing time and energy in a hobby or pastime. With this perspective, would work-life balance be… “balanced”? 

    Of course, whether you have a spouse or children affects how much time you need away from work. If you enjoy traveling or socializing with friends, these interests also affect how much time you need to recharge from work. And of course, if you’re an introvert who prefers more “me time” away from your work and coworkers, that’s important too.

    What are your thoughts on work-life balance if you have a job or career that you love?

  • Would you prefer a long boring life or a short adventurous one?

    Would you prefer a long boring life or a short adventurous one?

    Facing a pack of wolves while on a hike, climbing up a mountain in subzero temperatures, chasing dangerous criminals, investing in the stock market… these are all examples of a lifestyle a writer would prefer to experience from behind a laptop. The question of lifestyle preferences is what got me thinking: would you prefer a long, boring life or a short, adventurous one?

    Daily writing prompt
    What bores you?
    View all responses

    The answer to that question, of course, depends on the answer to another question: what bores you? As you know, I’m a writer, so I get excited over a new book to read, and I’m happy when I have the perfect cup of tea to enjoy during a quiet afternoon. I prefer to read about other people’s adventures exploring the Amazon Rainforest, crossing the North Sea, or discovering who (or what) lives in that haunted house across the street.

    There is a line in the movie Troy which I don’t remember word for word, but it goes something like this: Achilles’s mother says if he doesn’t fight at Troy, he can have a family and his children and grandchildren will remember him for a few generations before his name disappears. He can have a long, predictable life. If he fights at Troy, he will die young but he will be remembered for thousands of years as a gallant soldier and hero.

    Some people want to take risks to do what they love, such as climbing Mount Everest, traveling to risky destinations around the world, or participating in risky sports.

    Some people can’t take risks or do whatever they want because they have children, a spouse, or aging parents who depend on them. Sometimes the choice is ours, and sometimes it isn’t, depending on our life situation. People with responsibilities need to play it safe. They can’t risk their savings on cryptocurrency or invest thousands of dollars in a new startup company.

    What one person thinks of as a boring life, another person does not. We don’t know what challenges another person is facing, such as disabilities that are invisible to us. Or a long-term illness. That reclusive neighbor who is always at home might be dealing with trauma, and it is a huge achievement just to go out with a few friends.

    Some lives are cut short as a result of an accident or illness. But if they had a good life and they fought a good fight to keep going, it’s still a great life. Sometimes you don’t get to choose.

    So is it better to live a long, boring life or a short and adventurous one? This would depend on what you want out of life. What is boring to you? What is fulfilling to you? Either choice is good. If you can look back on your life with a smile, then you’ve done well.

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  • How to Find True Friends: One of the Best Gifts I Ever Received

    How to Find True Friends: One of the Best Gifts I Ever Received

    Daily writing prompt
    Share one of the best gifts you’ve ever received.
    View all responses

    One of the best gifts I ever received was a bottomless wallet. When I first got it, I thought the money inside it was the best thing in the world, but instead, I discovered what the real gift was.

    One day, I found an abandoned wallet on the street and opened it. Nothing was inside. My friend, standing across from me, said, “Wouldn’t it be nice if you had a thousand dollars in there?” 

    “Yes, but it’s empty,” I said, opening the wallet again to show her, and saw several bills inside. Hundreds of hundred dollar bills, totaling a thousand dollars. “I can’t believe it!” I exclaimed. 

    “It’s magic!” My friend took the money out of my hand. “I’m buying a purse and some jewelry,” she said. “I can finally afford to!” And she ran off.

    “Hey, wait for us!” I said. Stunned, I stared at the empty wallet in my hand.

    “What if there’s a hundred-dollar bill in there?” My other friend was still standing around.

    “No way.”

    She took the wallet from my hand, opened it, and pulled out a hundred-dollar bill. 

    “Maybe you should ask for more money,” I said.

    “No, this is enough,” she smiled. “Want to go get some food? Let’s celebrate our good luck with a fancy dinner,” she said.

  • The Best People to Be Around

    The Best People to Be Around

    Daily writing prompt
    Who are your favorite people to be around?
    View all responses

    There is a saying: you are the average of the five people you hang around with the most. Do you think there is some truth to that?

    I believe there is.

    When you hang around people with similar values, attitudes, and beliefs, your opinions affect your relationships with these people. Hard workers will inspire you to work hard to chase your dreams. If you surround yourself with optimistic, open-minded people, you will be with others who are always open to trying new things or learning about new cultures and experiences. 

    If you disagree with each other’s morals, either you will tolerate each other and avoid discussing your true feelings to keep the peace, or you will speak your mind and have disagreements. 

    If you spend time with people at a similar stage in life, you will have more to talk about, such as sharing ideas about career advancement, parenting, relationships, or retirement plans. 

    However, you can also have great relationships, whether professional or personal, with people at another stage in life if you have a lot of common values and interests. For example, if you join a book club, recreational sports team, or games group. 

    The people who are my favorite to be around inspire me to be a better person. These are the type of people who always believe in you and are there to support you in achieving your goals. They will lift you up, not pull you down. They are trustworthy and reliable. You can count on them to be there on your best days and worst days.

    My favorite people are those who respect who you are and don’t expect you to change to fit in with them. They know that people aren’t perfect and will forgive your mistakes and accept your genuine apologies. They will give you the benefit of the doubt. People are busy. They don’t know what you’re going through, so they will not jump to conclusions about you. They will take the time to get to know you and appreciate you for who you are.

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  • What is your dream job? (how to switch jobs for a day)

    What is your dream job? (how to switch jobs for a day)

    Daily writing prompt
    What’s your dream job?
    View all responses

    My dream job is a job that I’ve had before, which is to interview people and learn about what they do for work. I think it’s an eye-opener to learn what people do. A person’s job is never as simple as you think. Spending a short time in their shoes gives you a better appreciation of other people’s work when you see it through their eyes. It’s like that behind-the-scenes moment of a movie.

    First, I interviewed people about what they do. What is a typical day? What do they read? Who do they talk with? Surprisingly, most people think the interviewer will be bored from listening to them talk about a typical workday. But when you ask questions like, “What is this machine used for? Why do you enter information in this way? What do you do to protect yourself from injury?” They are excited about explaining how calculations are done, and how equipment works, etc. You open their eyes to a new perspective on what they thought was an ordinary task. Now they see their own job through the eyes of an outsider.

    Second, I get to spend time at their job, whether it is an office or an atypical job site. It may seem boring, but not everyone gets to go to a construction site, the staff areas of a hotel, or a manufacturing plant, just to name a few places. You feel like you’re an actor trying to fit into a scene where you feel out of place. If you usually work in an office, like I do, you become hyper-aware of the hazards around you when you’re working out of an office. The worker you’re interviewing isn’t afraid of heights (falling), fearful of the dark (in a mine) or wary of moving machinery (in a warehouse). 

    These places and situations are a chance to put on a different hat and be another person for a day. But when you watch a movie that features workers for the jobs that you interviewed, you find yourself saying, hey, that’s not how they actually do it! So fake! You’re not at the job site observing anymore. Now you want to walk into the movie set and change the incorrect ways of doing things, the unrealistic portrayals of jobs.

    These interviews are certainly interesting experiences. Definitely one of the best jobs in the world is discovering what other people do. You are constantly learning, never bored, and increase your appreciation of what other people accomplish.

    What’s your dream job?