What is Work-Life Balance?
Perhaps it is just semantics, but do you want a work-life balance or a life-work balance? Each person may have their own right answer. Perhaps balance isn’t even the right term. Balance implies something like a scale, where work is on one side and life is on the other. Is not work part of life? Is not life part of work? Are work and life not intertwined and just all a part of life?
What Do You Want to Achieve?
For the sake of argument, I’ll assume we want to achieve some sort of balance. Life-work balance implies to me that the first priority is non-work tasks. This can include, family, religion, spirituality, exercise, friends, relationships, family, home life, and entertaining. For some, focusing first on non-career life domains is a path toward optimal mental health. A lack of work-life balance can also interfere with your sex life.
Others may have different priorities. Work may be necessary to make ends meet. A career may be a source of tremendous joy and accomplishment. One’s job may be their calling and provide them with meaning. This isn’t to say that both work and career and other life domains aren’t all important.
