In the past week, I had a fascinating conversation with a partner of a professional services firm, who was struggling with balancing the demands of the firm with the needs of his family.

As a result, I introduced the partner to the Sex and the Cash Theory, which can be summarised as follows:

“Everyone has two kinds of jobs.  The first is the fun, & sexy kind, while the second is the one that pays the bills.  Sometimes a task at hand will cover both jobs but not very often.  What this means is there is always ongoing tension between the need to make a living and the desire to pursue the fun & sexy part of life.”

For the partner, it was clear the fun & sexy part of his life was about being a husband & a dad, while the cash part was about being a partner of the firm.  The problem is that as he and the firm were growing in leaps & bounds, this success has increased the tension with his desire to pursue the former.

Going forward his choices are about organising/structuring the job that is paying the bills to allow him to prioritise the fun & sexy part of life.