After looking through the list of what makes a job "extreme" (according to a talk given by the author of Extreme Jobs: The Dangerous Allure of the 70-Hour Workweek, a study by the Center for Work-Life Policy reported on Fast Company Now), I think a lot of meeting planner positions just may fit:
- first, work 60 hours a week or more, then, meet at least five of the following conditions: have work whose flow is unpredictable, work under tight deadlines, have work events outside of regular work hours, be available to clients 24/7, have P&L responsibility, have a large amount of travel, or a large number of direct reports, have a scope of responsibility that amounts to more than one job.
FastCo also attributes this to Sylvia Ann Hewlett, the Center’s president and the study’s co-author: "the concept that they’re being harmed by spending so much time at work misses the point. They want to be there. They get a rush from their jobs. They revel in the challenge."
While I seldom work 60-hour weeks, I can relate to most of the rest of it, and she's right. I admit that I have lousy work/life balance, but you know, that's because I enjoy my work, and often would rather be working than, say, vacuuming the living room. Plus, being a telecommuter kind of blurs those lines (and I don't have kids, which would likely change my outlook a bit). Which probably explains why I'm here blogging on a Sunday night instead of helping my long-suffering husband figure out how to get an iTunes gift certificate for someone who lives in Italy...