I always felt there was something wrong with the term “Work Life Balance”. I believe it would be best and appropriate to drop the word “work” and just state it as “Life Balance” or better yet a “Well Integrated Life”.

Our predisposition to being productive and our drive “to be the best” may have led us to the point of segmenting all the roles we have in life. Furthermore, the importance our culture gives to a “career” has led to creating a separation from our roles where work (i.e. our careers) has bigger weight whilst the other roles tend to be lumped as a counterweight called “personal life”.  

This view potentially leads one to treat these so-called segments as “binary”. We view them as “competing” for our most important resource which is our “time and focus”. This same view also leads most of us to “confuse thinking”; that each segment is isolated in its existence and requires a “different you” … a different persona to succeed in each area. In the same vein, one could imagine that this type of thinking would eventually lead to bigger questions on the meaning of work and even the meaning of life. Of course, I am stating the extreme, but one has a sense that it does happen. The fact is that we need to realize and remind ourselves that “work” is “a” part of life. 

In my view; the potential richness of a life can be enjoyed with a fuller sense of satisfaction if one acknowledges our multiple roles in life and that they are interdependent. The experiences we have built blends and make things more colorful. Acknowledging their interdependencies ensures that the values you nurture would consistently echo regardless of the role you take on; no compromises and one becomes truly authentic which further enhances each experience we encounter. In my case, most folks I worked with tend to describe my style as “fatherly” or similar a “coach”. This I allude to me leaning on how I engage and interact with others in other roles I play in life. Furthermore, I find myself thriving in my career when I’m able to nurture my relationships with the folks I worked with and treat them as family.  

Tapping into our various experiences in life, is like a chef cooking a mixture of ingredients and spices to bring out a great dish to be enjoyed. In fact, a chef goes beyond just a single dish but thinks of the combination of the whole meal in itself – the hors d’oeuvre, soup, appetizer, salad, main course, dessert and palate cleaner; giving the diner a fuller experience. Similar to the chef, we would need to acknowledge the taste of each ingredient or each dish. Asking ourselves an honest question of what the ingredient brings to the “dish or the whole meal” or at what amount is needed so the ingredient add value and does not destroy the whole experience. 

“To taste”; I recall my wife saying to my son whilst teaching him the art and science of cooking a family stew. She mentions this as my son taste his stew as he tries to balance the concoction of ingredients; adding or watering down to create that perfect dish. Similar to life; we are able to work on that right combination. Each of us needs to remind ourselves and nurture this mindset. The pressures we would encounter in life nudges us back to the default of segmenting our lives again as we aim for excellence in a single area and treating each area as a “zero-sum game”. Never lose sight that what we are really doing is building a “life” ... make sure you find time to ponder … “to taste” and then adjust. 

I wish you all a “well-integrated life”.