full transcript
"From the Ted Talk by Nigel Marsh: How to make work-life balance work"

Unscramble the Blue Letters

The third observation is we have to be careful with the time frame that we choose upon which to judge our balance. Before I went back to work after my year at home, I sat down and I wtroe out a detailed, step-by-step description of the ideal beanalcd day that I aspired to. And it went like this: wake up well retsed after a good night's sleep. Have sex. Walk the dog. Have breakfast with my wife and children. Have sex again. (Laughter) divre the kids to school on the way to the office. Do three hours' work. Play a sport with a friend at lmiuhtcne. Do another three hours' work. Meet some mates in the pub for an early eenving dnirk. Drive home for dinner with my wife and kids. matdetie for half an hour. Have sex. Walk the dog. Have sex again. Go to bed. (Applause) How often do you think I have that day? (Laughter) We need to be realistic. You can't do it all in one day. We need to elongate the time famre upon which we judge the bacalne in our life, but we need to elongate it without falling into the trap of the "I'll have a life when I retire, when my kids have left home, when my wife has divorced me, my health is failing, I've got no mates or interests left." (Laughter) A day is too short; "after I retire" is too long. There's got to be a mdldie way.

Open Cloze

The third observation is we have to be careful with the time frame that we choose upon which to judge our balance. Before I went back to work after my year at home, I sat down and I _____ out a detailed, step-by-step description of the ideal ________ day that I aspired to. And it went like this: wake up well ______ after a good night's sleep. Have sex. Walk the dog. Have breakfast with my wife and children. Have sex again. (Laughter) _____ the kids to school on the way to the office. Do three hours' work. Play a sport with a friend at _________. Do another three hours' work. Meet some mates in the pub for an early _______ _____. Drive home for dinner with my wife and kids. ________ for half an hour. Have sex. Walk the dog. Have sex again. Go to bed. (Applause) How often do you think I have that day? (Laughter) We need to be realistic. You can't do it all in one day. We need to elongate the time _____ upon which we judge the _______ in our life, but we need to elongate it without falling into the trap of the "I'll have a life when I retire, when my kids have left home, when my wife has divorced me, my health is failing, I've got no mates or interests left." (Laughter) A day is too short; "after I retire" is too long. There's got to be a ______ way.

Solution

  1. meditate
  2. evening
  3. frame
  4. drink
  5. drive
  6. middle
  7. rested
  8. lunchtime
  9. balanced
  10. balance
  11. wrote

Original Text

The third observation is we have to be careful with the time frame that we choose upon which to judge our balance. Before I went back to work after my year at home, I sat down and I wrote out a detailed, step-by-step description of the ideal balanced day that I aspired to. And it went like this: wake up well rested after a good night's sleep. Have sex. Walk the dog. Have breakfast with my wife and children. Have sex again. (Laughter) Drive the kids to school on the way to the office. Do three hours' work. Play a sport with a friend at lunchtime. Do another three hours' work. Meet some mates in the pub for an early evening drink. Drive home for dinner with my wife and kids. Meditate for half an hour. Have sex. Walk the dog. Have sex again. Go to bed. (Applause) How often do you think I have that day? (Laughter) We need to be realistic. You can't do it all in one day. We need to elongate the time frame upon which we judge the balance in our life, but we need to elongate it without falling into the trap of the "I'll have a life when I retire, when my kids have left home, when my wife has divorced me, my health is failing, I've got no mates or interests left." (Laughter) A day is too short; "after I retire" is too long. There's got to be a middle way.

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
work life 4
life balance 4

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
work life balance 4

Important Words

  1. applause
  2. aspired
  3. balance
  4. balanced
  5. bed
  6. breakfast
  7. careful
  8. children
  9. choose
  10. day
  11. description
  12. detailed
  13. dinner
  14. divorced
  15. dog
  16. drink
  17. drive
  18. early
  19. elongate
  20. evening
  21. failing
  22. falling
  23. frame
  24. friend
  25. good
  26. health
  27. home
  28. hour
  29. ideal
  30. interests
  31. judge
  32. kids
  33. laughter
  34. left
  35. life
  36. long
  37. lunchtime
  38. mates
  39. meditate
  40. meet
  41. middle
  42. observation
  43. office
  44. play
  45. pub
  46. realistic
  47. rested
  48. retire
  49. sat
  50. school
  51. sex
  52. sleep
  53. sport
  54. time
  55. trap
  56. wake
  57. walk
  58. wife
  59. work
  60. wrote
  61. year