Work-life balance is something that many strive for, but it’s often a fool’s errand. Not that work should consume your life, but that trying to balance them neatly may be impossible.
In “The 12 Week Year“, author Brian Morgan suggests this instead:
Trying to spend equal time in each area is unproductive and often frustrating. Life balance is not about equal time in each area; life balance is more about intentional imbalance.
This is similar to a concept Ali uses that she calls “structured variety”. To her, this means that she can plan to take the afternoon off to read books at her daughter’s school, and then she’ll also plan to do a bit of work that night from 8-10pm to catch back up. It’s a trade she’s happy to make, because many jobs don’t allow that kind of flexibility. It’s no fun working that late at night, but to be able to trade it for time with your child at school? Absolutely!
As Brian says, the “intentional imbalance” is the key. Be careful not to be consumed by any one part of your life, but it’s not worth trying to strike that perfect balance either.
