In the era of hustle culture, where work usually takes precedence over everything else, maintaining a work-life balance is a real challenge. A strong desire to succeed professionally can make us compromise our needs and well-being, and ultimately lead to burnout.
Recently, Netflix co-founder Marc Randolph took to LinkedIn to share his strategy on how he maintains a balance between his professional and personal lives. Mr. Randolph explained that for the past thirty years, he has maintained a strict rule to leave his workplace exactly by 5:00 pm on Tuesdays.
So, what does he do on Tuesday nights? He leaves early to spend the evening with his wife, his best friend. The entrepreneur said that he refused to compromise with this rule.
He wrote on LinkedIn, ''I've worked hard, for my entire career, to keep my life balanced with my job. In my book, I write about my Tuesday date nights with my wife. For over thirty years, I had a hard cut-off on Tuesdays. Rain or shine, I left at exactly 5 pm and spent the evening with my best friend. We would go to a movie, have dinner, or just go window-shopping downtown together.''
See the post here:
Mr. Randolph further wrote that no matter what, he would not entertain meetings, conference calls, or last-minute questions or requests on Tuesday evenings. ''Nothing got in the way of that. No meeting, no conference call, no last-minute question or request. If you had something to say to me on Tuesday afternoon at 4:55, you had better say it on the way to the parking lot. If there was a crisis, we are going to wrap it up by 5:00,'' he added.
He remarked that those Tuesday nights were what kept him sane and put the rest of his work in perspective.
Mr. Randolph also stressed the importance of maintaining family ties and wrote, ''I resolved a long time ago to not be one of those entrepreneurs on their 7th startup and their 7th wife. In fact, the thing I'm most proud of in my life is not the companies I started, it's the fact that I was able to start them while staying married to the same woman; having my kids grow up knowing me and (best as I can tell) liking me, and being able to spend time pursuing the other passions in my life. That's my definition of success.''
