Love Your Working Life
  • Work With Carleen
    • About Carleen
    • Career Strategy Session >
      • Get The Most Out Of Your Career Strategy Session
    • Podcasts
    • Coaching Programs >
      • Lead with Impact
      • Career Impact
      • Purpose to Impact
      • Recognize Your Leadership Potential >
        • Welcome to Recognizing Your Leadership Potential
      • Realize Your High Potential
      • The Art of Influence at Work
      • Your Time By Design
      • Assessment
    • Book Me To Speak >
      • Persuasive at Work
      • Workshops That Work >
        • Getting Hybrid Right
        • Leading a Hybrid Team Workshop
        • Communicating Comfortably in a Hybrid Setting Workshop
        • Finding Your Leadership Compass Hybrid Teams Workshop
        • Communicating Comfortably in a Virtual Setting Workshop
        • Leading in Ambiguity Workshop
        • Accomplishing Work Through Others Workshop
        • My Values Driven Workplace Workshop
        • Working Successfully From Home Workshop
        • Working Resilience
        • The Many Faces of Unconscious Bias Workshop
        • Building A Culture of Trust Workshop
        • Finding Your Leadership Compass Workshop
        • Foundational Conversations Workshop
        • Conscious Conversations Workshop
        • Purpose Driven Feedback Workshop
        • Dynamic Team Communication Workshop
    • Awards
  • Client Stories
  • Blog
  • Testimonials
  • Free Resources
    • Summer Serenity Inspiration Guide
    • Working Life Wellbeing Assessment
    • Hidden Habits Holding You Back
    • Secrets to Boost Your Job Security
    • Working Life Serenity
    • Virtual Influence
    • Hello Monday Videos
    • Career Resources
    • Life Practices >
      • I Feel Angry
      • I Feel Stuck
      • I Am Overwhelmed
      • I Need Self-Compassion
      • Emotions At Work
      • Mindfulness
      • Triggers At Work
      • Naming Emotions
      • I Feel Frustrated
    • Balancing Time Workbook
    • Working Life Persona Quiz
    • Career Health Quiz
    • Healthy Boundaries Quiz
  • Referral Partners
  • Connect
  • Subscribe
  • The Career Edit
BLOG

CREATE A WORK LIFE
​YOU CAN LOVE

Redefining Work/Life Balance

5/16/2018

 
Picture
Photo by Johnson Wang on Unsplash

Work-life balance is a phrase we throw around a lot.  Ever since the industrial revolution made possible the adaptation to work en mass, employing millions of people, our western societies have had a distorted definition of balance (when it comes to work).  As an example, since that same revolution we’ve made it illegal to work people to their early deaths with punishing hours (10+ hour work days, 6+ day work weeks, etc.)…and yet there are many in our “enlightened” society today who work punishing hours of one kind or another (often voluntarily).  Are you one of them?
 
The concept of balance has enormous appeal; it sounds like something to aspire to, to master, something that is on our control to effect (you just need more balance). Like our ancestors who ushered in the industrial revolution, we often think we can solve the problems we face today by breaking things down into their components and re-mastering them in new and different ways, thus allowing us to become far more efficient.  We conveniently forget our ancestral innovation was with respect to materials and processes; breaking things down into simple steps and motion so as to re-order work, yielding unseen results (for the era).  The happy by-product of their results was that by becoming more efficient you could also save time, giving life to a fairy tale we still believe in today.  Except, you cannot continually achieve greater and greater efficiencies with something finite, like time. 
 
Balance, in our 21st century world, has become the “holy grail” of time management.  We acknowledge we control what we do and how we do it, so it makes sense that if we pursue organization skills that allow us to plan our days mindfully, logically, we can do it all. In this process we have completely forgotten the essential definition of balance, we’ve skewed to to fit the 18th century fairy tale.  It’s time for a re-set.  Balance (within the context of work and life) is essentially following the common sense of all things in moderation.  When you look at it that way, doesn’t the pursuit of continually striving to do more with less time seem ridiculous?  This 18th century notion we carry also assumes we are machine-like, not living beings.  We forget that in addition to not being able to iteratively become more efficient (past a certain point) we also have a hard-wired need to be effective in what we do.   In other words we need to make a difference through our work or we lose access to hope, sacrificing wellbeing. 
 
You cannot make as meaningful a difference moving through life at 185 kmph, as you can when you slow down and attend to what is happening in each moment, allowing the moments in life to guide your work (immersing yourself in the meaning and purpose of what you do).  When we only have access to high-level “surface” meaning (proverbially checking the box), we derive no lasting joy from it.  It doesn’t feed our soul, which brings on anxiety, self-doubt, vulnerability, and many other emotions we thought we’d avoided because hey, we got the work done.  Not so.  No one can avoid the impact (or collateral damage to our families and communities) of continually ignoring his or her deepest ambitions and potential.  So, try this instead.  Look at your day from the perspective of what purpose your effort serves (rather than how much time it will take).  You may find with this approach that what you thought was really important…just isn’t.  Saving you time and supporting your wellbeing.
 
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”  ~ Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

Comments are closed.

    Subscribe 

    Looking for a Blog? Search here:

    ABOUT MY BLOG

    I believe in empowering others in many tangible ways.  When I learn new career strategies  or see something that might help others, I share it using my blog and website. 

    View my profile on LinkedIn

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    October 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    December 2013

All photography on my website is courtesy of the generous artists at Pexels and Unsplash.
Book Your Career Strategy Session
Privacy Policy
Integral Coach™ is a registered trade-mark in Canada owned by Integral Coaching Canada Inc. and licensed to Carleen Hicks.

  • Work With Carleen
    • About Carleen
    • Career Strategy Session >
      • Get The Most Out Of Your Career Strategy Session
    • Podcasts
    • Coaching Programs >
      • Lead with Impact
      • Career Impact
      • Purpose to Impact
      • Recognize Your Leadership Potential >
        • Welcome to Recognizing Your Leadership Potential
      • Realize Your High Potential
      • The Art of Influence at Work
      • Your Time By Design
      • Assessment
    • Book Me To Speak >
      • Persuasive at Work
      • Workshops That Work >
        • Getting Hybrid Right
        • Leading a Hybrid Team Workshop
        • Communicating Comfortably in a Hybrid Setting Workshop
        • Finding Your Leadership Compass Hybrid Teams Workshop
        • Communicating Comfortably in a Virtual Setting Workshop
        • Leading in Ambiguity Workshop
        • Accomplishing Work Through Others Workshop
        • My Values Driven Workplace Workshop
        • Working Successfully From Home Workshop
        • Working Resilience
        • The Many Faces of Unconscious Bias Workshop
        • Building A Culture of Trust Workshop
        • Finding Your Leadership Compass Workshop
        • Foundational Conversations Workshop
        • Conscious Conversations Workshop
        • Purpose Driven Feedback Workshop
        • Dynamic Team Communication Workshop
    • Awards
  • Client Stories
  • Blog
  • Testimonials
  • Free Resources
    • Summer Serenity Inspiration Guide
    • Working Life Wellbeing Assessment
    • Hidden Habits Holding You Back
    • Secrets to Boost Your Job Security
    • Working Life Serenity
    • Virtual Influence
    • Hello Monday Videos
    • Career Resources
    • Life Practices >
      • I Feel Angry
      • I Feel Stuck
      • I Am Overwhelmed
      • I Need Self-Compassion
      • Emotions At Work
      • Mindfulness
      • Triggers At Work
      • Naming Emotions
      • I Feel Frustrated
    • Balancing Time Workbook
    • Working Life Persona Quiz
    • Career Health Quiz
    • Healthy Boundaries Quiz
  • Referral Partners
  • Connect
  • Subscribe
  • The Career Edit