Jetzt - Now - But it's more complicated...

I had a lovely, delicious, fun and inspiring - and relaxing (kid-free) - weekend in Geneva with four lovely friends. Again and again and again, I am blessed to know such kind, interesting and fun people.

I returned to Berlin to continue to think about my next (career) steps, and (again) realized that it's all so complicated when one is not under immense financial pressure to take the next job and just muddle through. To underscore this realization, today's newspaper (Sueddeutsche) has a supplement (Jetzt - Now) that covers work-life balance. It deals with fundamental questions such as do we work to live (outside of work)? Or do we live to work? It has articles on why part-time work doesn't function in practice (because most part-timers simply cover their full-time jobs in less time - and for significantly less pay, get side-lined in all decision-making, plus have new non-paid jobs such as caring for children or elderly on top of that).

Over-analysis kills every topic. I don't really think that I'll ever be able to solve these problems analytically, not generally - nor even just for myself. There are too many factors, variables, uncertainties. Sure, one can be aware of all of these, and in times when one has time to think and analyze, one may realize things that one doesn't have time to notice when in the midst of the career rat-race. One may have time to go about things "strategically", as my book recommends (see past posts).

But I think it's a bit like making the decision to have (more) kids: There are so many pros and cons, so many factors that are in favor of having them now, later, never, constantly. And at the end of the day, I believe one should just listen to one's gut, forget all the analysis, and once it's done, it's done.

Maybe this is what I should do with my career and next job. Just see an ad and respond to it with my gut instinct, or send out an application to somewhere that inspires me. And stop being so analytical, strategic and analytical. (By the way, I just recently did this. We'll see where it leads me.)