Why work-life balance doesn’t work

It’s very fashionable now to talk about work-life balance and how hard that balance is to keep. Which is perfectly logical — because the concept itself is meaningless. There is no such opposition as life vs. work. Work is an integral part of life, combining a career with creative and social self-realisation. And in a small business it’s often part of family relationships too, since families work there together, in the same venture. In short, it’s strange to oppose work to life. It’s like opposing the whole human body to its own head.

Instead of the concept of “work-life balance” I suggest breaking life down into its different components and looking, in each particular case, at what’s going on with the balance. As in the wheel of life balance or in my game “The Pentacle of Happiness”. I deliberately built the game balance so that the basic cards always improve two spheres. That is, work never turns out to be just work — the way money or power never mean only their “face value” to a person. If you go down this path, you can understand your current need better. Not “I have an urgent need to live, so I’ll take a day off”, but the realisation that you miss the people close to you — or, on the contrary, want some time alone. Or maybe everything is fine as it is: work inspires and delights you, and it simply needs to be given its place.

In other words, don’t look for a balance between abstract work and equally abstract personal life — figure out what work means to you, what life is, and what exactly is missing today. The revelations can be very interesting: one person is exhausted at work because they don’t see their kids, and that needs fixing — rebalance your work commitments. Another is exhausted at work because they’re paid too little there and can’t fuel the other areas of their life — and then they need to work MORE, not less. And preferably somewhere else (or take on a side job — it’s always very individual).

In my view, five spheres are enough to cover all facets of human existence: self-love, family, the wider social circle such as friends or neighbours, work, and creative self-expression. Seeking balance between these five components is far more honest towards yourself and your happiness than counting how many hours a day you “work” and how many you “rest”. I’ll probably write separately about rest and work — things aren’t so clear-cut there either.

So who is the work-life balance concept, in its current form, actually for? In my view, it suits those who hate their job so much that they cut it off from the rest of their life. Although a job-search site or a therapist’s office would suit that case much better. As I’ve said before, fooling yourself is the last thing you should do.