The Good Enough Job 📕 talks about the concepts of segmentors and integrators to describe how people manage the boundaries between their work and personal lives. These styles are not indicative of superiority or deficiency, but rather, they reflect individual preferences in how one compartmentalizes or blends these aspects of life.
Segmentors are characterized by their inclination to maintain a distinct separation between their professional and personal spheres. They prefer a clear demarcation between work and personal life, which they achieve through:
- Structured Schedules: Segmentors thrive on predictability and prefer fixed working hours. They are most comfortable when expectations and timelines are clearly defined. They often follow predictable routines, and may experience stress when there is excessive flexibility.
- Compartmentalisation: They favor keeping work life and home life in distinct areas and avoid mixing personal and work tasks. They might find it beneficial to create rituals to signal the end of the workday, such as changing clothes or having a specific transition routine, as exemplified by the firefighter who changes out of his work clothes and showers to create a mental separation between his work and home.
Integrators, conversely, adopt a more fluid approach, blending their work and personal lives rather than keeping them separate. They tend to:
- Embrace Flexibility: Integrators are comfortable with flexible schedules and may work at different times as required. They do not feel the need to completely disconnect from work.
- Blend Tasks: They may seamlessly integrate personal tasks with work activities. For instance, an integrator might exercise in the morning, then work, then attend to their children, then return to work.
- Find Work Energising: Work is not viewed as a depleting activity. The book cites the example of a professor who derives enjoyment from working on Saturdays and experiences discomfort if he leaves emails unanswered.
Segmentors prefer clearly defined boundaries, similar to having separate boxes for work and life with a wall in between. They prefer schedules that offer predictability and distinct transitions.
Integrators prefer a more blended approach, like having the two boxes next to one another with no wall in between. They often favour flexible schedules that permit the mixture of personal and professional tasks.