Expert Perspective

Work/Life: Staying in Bed All Day...How You Can Make It Work For You

BY Tom Stern | 03-24-2008 | 10:24 PM

This article is written by a member of our expert contributor community.

So much news competing for my attention this week: China, the economy, the presidential race, the housing market…I suppose it should come as no surprise that current events are just like the tasks in our Palm Pilot. They come at us fast and furious, and it never occurs to us to ignore them and/or not let them stress us out and ruin our tenuous hold on a good mood. Everything that’s going in on the world is simply one more thing we have to take on.
Well, sometimes the news can be part of the solution instead of part of the problem. For example, I happened upon the fact that today, March 25th, is the anniversary of the first “bed-in” for peace held by John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1969. Part publicity stunt, part political commentary, it certainly captured the public imagination. And it reminded me that the world of work/life has been missing an opportunity for years. I cannot think of a better location from which to protest stress, overwork and re-arranging of priorities than a nice, big king-sized bed! Yes, people, it is time for the world’s first bed-ins for work/life balance!
And you may think it would take a person of Lennon-esque fame to draw the media’s attention. Sure, if Donald Trump or Condoleezza Rice (I said “or,” not “and”) reclined in the sack instead of pursuing their high-powered agendas, it might draw the press vultures fairly quickly. But really, any one of us who has the wherewithal to rent a hotel room and call in horizontal to work for days at a time would most probably create a buzz that would soon send a local news crew to your slothful digs, wondering what it is you are hoping to achieve by lying around like a slug instead of being a productive member of capitalist society.
Your answer, of course, would be that you are lying around like a slug instead of being a productive member of capitalist society. You may even make a point of having breakfast in bed with your spouse or significant other, kicking back to watch a DVD, or gathering the entire family on the bed for a game of Yahtzee right around the time you were supposed to be giving that Power Point presentation on third quarter expectations. Soon, your subversive tactics will ripple outward into the mainstream, and more and more people will stage their own bed-ins, resolutely choosing to relax for a day or two instead of giving into the pressures of the market-driven universe, and witnessing how little effect it really has on business to not give things your immediate and obsessive attention.
So pick a bed, any bed, and lie in it. Before long, your odd behavior will attract the focus of reporters, and history will be made. Just remember, it is not 1969 anymore, so, unlike John and Yoko, you may want to hold off on the disheveled appearance, growing your hair long and posing naked on an album cover. That is, unless you really don’t care about ever getting your job back.