New Definitions of Work-Life Balance?

Photo by Gilest

I love the concept of work-life balance.  Putting it into practice, now that's where things get difficult. 

Difficult, but not impossible.  Julie Mortgenstern, who writes alongside David Allen at Business Week offers this as fresh insight:

"Work-life balance is not about the amount of time you spend working vs. not-working. It’s more about how you spend your time working and relaxing, recognizing that what you do in one fuels your energy for the other."

What she's really saying is what Pope Paul VI called for in the late 1960's.  He coined the phrase, "unity of life" and he meant to encourage folks to see their work and personal values as integrated one with the other. 

One of the tragedies of the entire Bill Clinton scandal was not so much what he did (although hardly commendable).  Rather, it was the paradigm that he promoted: private life and public life as separate entities.  I have heard many of my students over the years buy into this gospel- i.e. "what I do in my own time is my business and not yours!"  Both true and false.

So, what is work-life balance?  Simply put, work-life balance is the art of maintaining the integrity of both your labor and your love.  Someone once said that a job is what you're paid for and a vocation is what you're made for.  Now that's work-life balance.

Comments

[Ken Stewart]

"It's not personal, it's just business." is all too often spoken without thought for moral implications. I myself have chosen to work for a company that employs ethical leaders, but make no mistake - it is business, and the almighty dollar wins in the end.

I like the Pope's saying... it rings true to my very core. One must have congruency between your lives in order to preserve the integrity of one's soul - at least that is my opinion.

As I reference, "your lives" I wonder how one can reach a place where work and other things happily coexist as it is so easy for me to become out of balance.

... and the more I roll this post around in my head, the more intriguing that ripple effect becomes... thank you for the food... I shall enjoy the intellectual dining tonight.

[Mike St. Pierre]

Ken, any time! I also think that we too often make the mistake of separating work from "life", as if work is not fun and going to the movies with friends is higher on the totum pole. I'm seeing it all as one whole more and more.

Peace, M

[Ken Stewart]

I should have you talk with my wife ;-) I enjoy a lot of my work, and I think that is a problem... sometimes I have to remember there are other parts of my life to enjoy as well ;-)