How to Thrive in a World of Work/Life Balance

Priya Sonty

Work/life balance, as most of us understand it, is the experience of harmony between your professional and personal life, so that the amount of time you spend working doesn’t dip into time you need to replenish and recharge yourself. Lately, especially with many employees still working from home and the blurred lines between home and office, we talk about work/life balance as an elusive aspect that should be attainable, but perhaps have to make sacrifices to achieve it.

Work/life balance doesn’t have to be a myth. There is a way that we can thrive in a world of balance.

We readily accept that who we are at work is different from who we are in our personal lives, based on how we dress, how we communicate, and what we spend our time doing. But what if, in spite of those external differences between work and personal life, who we are on the inside didn’t have to change?

Just because what we are doing is different, it doesn’t also mean that who we are changes. Think about it this way - even if you dress your body in different clothes based on where you might be going, your body is still inherently the same. Similarly, for most of us, our personality is also generally the same no matter where we are and what we’re doing. The same traits our families like in us are usually the same traits that our colleagues’ value - traits like kindness, humor, and generosity that describe who we are and not just how we act in any one area of our lives.

What does all this mean for work/life balance? It means that we should consider putting an end to looking at our daily lives in time-based segments - a getting-ready-in-the-morning segment, a work segment, an end-of-day segment - and instead realize that all of these segments blend together to form a day and ultimately, your life. From that perspective, our work life and our personal life aren’t separate - they’re integrated. The good news is that in the bigger picture, we get to decide how we want our lives to go based on what’s important to us.

It’s important for us as employees to identify priorities in life and then integrate work according to those priorities rather than living a life according to what you feel may be expected of you. For instance, if you have children and spending time with them is a priority, you will naturally be inspired to try to arrange your work schedule to allow for maximum time to do that. You might choose a location-independent job or one that allows you to choose your own hours so that you can achieve the work/life balance that is aligned with your priorities.

Perhaps being ambitious and getting a promotion at work is a priority for you, and in that case, you will inherently get more energy and joy out of arranging your life to spend more time at work doing projects that excite you. 

When you organize your life according to what’s most important to you, instead of what you think you have to do, you’ll find that balance and harmony is a natural result. There is no amount of time anyone “should” spend at work or enjoying their personal lives, and that’s another reason why work/life balance is a myth - the satisfaction we get from how we spend our time is highly personalized to each of us. Let yourself be led by your priorities first, and not only will you understand that work/life balance is a myth, but that work/life integration is far more conducive to feeling satisfied with your life.