Interview with The Independent: Founder and Clinical Director Jordan Conrad Discusses Balancing Work with Life

It is hard to remember at this point, but when smartphones first came out one of their advertised benefits was going to be how much more efficient we would be with our time. We were told that you will be able to check your work email on the train so that when you get home, you wouldn’t have to focus on work at all.

Of course, that’s not quite what happened. Our work lives have burgeoned and spilled into our mornings and evening. As always, there is a movement to push back against the invasion of work. In “Five-to-nine: Why Gen Zs like me are stealing back time for side hustles, wellness and exercise” Madison Park’s founder and clinical director, Jordan Conrad, sat down with Ellie Muir to discuss a growing trend among young people to seize back some control in their lives.

Ellie asked me about the viral #5to9routine where Gen Z-ers are committing to living their lives in fulfilling ways, either before work from 5am to 9pm or after work from 5pm to 9pm. Jordan explains that having a nice hashtag for this is helpful because the message that people need to engage more actively in their lives is essential. “People are living their lives within the margins of work” Jordan explains: “The reality is that many people feel so overwhelmed by their careers that they leave work late, spend their commute home checking their emails, and then spend their ‘down time’ either working more or numbing themselves with television or social media.”

Although the desire to sink into your couch after a long day to relax is tempting, it often isn’t actually relaxing. After an hour of watching TV, people don’t generally feel rejuvenated, they feel even more exhausted. As a result, people spend day after day at work, then watching the hours of their life pass them by and grow increasingly hopeless and depressed.

Jordan recommends finding something you can improve on, week after week, month after month. It doesn’t matter what it is, but something you feel connected to: woodworking, ballroom dancing, sailing, pottery, martial arts, gardening. “People want to feel that they are engaged in something that they chose to do and that they are getting better at it over time. Work, even work you enjoy, does not scratch that itch for most people. And that makes sense – life is not just one thing. Your career is important, but you need to feel that your relationships are developing and that you are growing as a person as well.”