The Successful Envy Those Who Have Time

In the 1980s, many smart, dressed-for-success women and men invested much of their time on getting ahead.

Now they are asking: “Is it worth it? What is it all for?”

Over power lunches in the 1990s, the successful, but stressed, talk enviously about those lucky souls whose every waking moment isn’t scheduled weeks ahead in Daytimers, who actually have time to walk their kids to school or maybe coach Little League. On a moment’s notice, they can have a beer with friends or stop by and see the folks.

Regular Joes and Janes - people who don’t have to book time for joy and satisfaction - are emerging as role models. They may have less money, but richer personal lives.

The most courageous of the overworked sisters and brethren - operating without a clear road map - are finding a path out of the rat race. Cutting back on hours, switching to jobs they love and embracing frugality - they are trying a variety of ways to balance their wants and their need for a less stressful, less job-centered life.

The timing is certainly right - while companies are downsizing, many of us are downscaling our lives as well. Granted, some are cutting back by necessity because of layoffs, but others are scaling back by choice.

And while women are leading the way, many men are joining them.

Even Working Woman magazine, which has been telling women for 20 years they could not only fry the bacon, but bring it home as well, now is telling its readers: “Get a life.” Those three words dominate the cover of the magazine’s December issue.

“What is going on?” I asked Working Woman editor Lynn Povich recently in a telephone conversation.

“Many successful people have found themselves in a weird dance of stress and craziness - a whirling dervish of activity,” says Povich from Manhattan, the nation’s stress capital.

“Topics like globalization and technology are covered in the business press as the big issues of the day, but I think this is the biggest one of all,” Povich says. “Our hard-earned success is not paying off in some fundamental ways.”

The first hint she had that Americans were reassessing success can be found in a survey of men and women that Working Woman commissioned two years ago. Power, career, money - the three things the ‘80s stood for - came in dead last.

Povich decided to devote an entire issue to exploring the topic since these days almost everyone is talking about seeking meaningful work and a balanced life - even if they have to trade money for time.

“Twenty years ago we wouldn’t have done this issue,” says Povich. “For women, it is a natural evolution of where we have come. We needed to achieve something before we could sit back and ask whether we had gotten what we truly wanted.”

Often, the corporate workplace hasn’t lived up to women’s ideals. So instead of pounding their heads on glass ceilings, they are creating suitable work environments. More than men, women tend to put more value on relationships and aren’t as invested in the traditional workplace. And now there is a new breed of women confident they can take career risks.

Downsizing doesn’t necessarily mean chucking your job and opening a fruit stand out in the boonies. But it does require a re-evaluation of your values.

“Everyone thinks ‘getting a life’ means downsizing, but for many it means working at something they really love,” says Povich, who works at a job she loves. “That is where they find a life.”

After pulling together this “Get a life” issue, did the 52-year-old editor of Working Woman - also a wife, and mother of two children - plan any changes in her personal life? “Not yet,” she said with a laugh. “But I’m thinking about it.”

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