February Series: Work-Life Balance

In June of 2023, Red Lobster launched “All you can eat Shrimp.” A massive marketing campaign deployed across all Red Lobster chains throughout the United States. The idea was supposed to propel sales, create higher engagement, and increase brand loyalty. These are the cruxes of any good marketing campaign right? Some other popular marketing campaigns include Nike “Just Do It.”, Snickers '“You’re not you when you’re hungry.”, Coca-Cola with the Polar Bears, etc. All these companies want one thing, your money in exchange for their product. Consumerism. Buy goods and services. Seems pretty standard I’d say, I just love walking into Red Lobster with my Nike shoes on Snickers in my back pocket, ready to order a Coke and Shrimp.

But what if the product is free? What if I don’t have to trade my hard earned money for a product? Amazing deal right? Well, not exactly. Let me explain.

If the product is free, how can the company be making money? I trade nothing and I get everything right? Wrong. Let’s broaden the scope. These companies are looking for is your time and attention. To sit down and “doomscroll”. To get home after a long days work and sit on the couch looking at your for you page. To lay in bed for hours, rolling the dice on the next reel and the next one. To hijack your dopamine and rewards system. I’ve found that even in the lulls I have on the metro, in between sets at the gym, at work I pull out my phone and escape. The price I pay is my attention, my now weakened habits, and my dopamine for an escape. Is that price worth it? You tell me.

While each of us have our own unique talents and strengths, our single greatest asset is our youth. The clock doesn’t rewind. “Life moves forward but can only be understood in reverse.” Now this isn’t a post to make you delete all social media, time wasting apps, buy a brick, etc. More simply, a reorienting of what we value and invoking some awareness to strike the proper work life balance for yourself. To be rich isn’t to have money. You can be rich in time. In relationships. In love. In leisure. In gratitude. Anything you value.

In these newsletters I’m trying to pivot away from boiling the ocean. Instead I’m gonna focus on one motif per month so we can establish some consistency in these posts instead of the alternative scatterbrained approach. This months theme: Work-Life Balance. Comment if you want me to touch on anything specific or if you have any thoughts.

My last thought to you, Take a look around at your company. Look at the senior leadership. Is that a life you want? From your limited interaction are they in the shape you want? Family structure you desire? Free time? What do they have that you desire? And is this current path worth it?

See you next week, cheers.