The work-life balance bullshit

So I've been running my business for almost a decade. It's been a riiiiiiiiiide, let me tell you! It's been a ride I've adored, and so I've heard myself say, many times, that I don't buy into that work-life balance bullshit.

Why?

Because if you LOVE what you do, it doesn't feel like work. So many of us say that!

I believed it wholeheartedly!

Oh my lovelies, I think I've been lying to myself a bit...

Here's why.

Because, no matter how much your work challenges you in the best ways and fills your wee heart and feeds your soul, it is still (for most of us) something OTHER than whānau and personal care time.

And whānau and personal care - those things are NOT OPTIONAL.

We can't do without them.

But we feel so much drive to do all the other things.

All the other things are a problem

All the other things get in the way. And the time we commit to self and those most important in our lives - that gets squeezed and squeezed into smaller and smaller blocks of time.

As much as I LOVE training, speaking, consulting and writing, if every moment is filled with those things, then here's what happens for me:

• I don't get enough sleep, and so

• I eat absolute rubbish, because I don't take the time to plan and eat well

• I don't drink enough water

• I don't move my body enough

• I drink too much

• I put on weight

• My energy drops

• I get irritable, because #pressure and #stress, and ultimately

• I carry guilt for neglecting my personal relationships

Am I filling all my time with things I love? Things I'm damn good at and that I care about?

Yes.

Am I dedicating the time I deserve to my own wellness?

No.

Abort...abort...abort (insert re-frame)

So... Maybe "work-life balance" isn't the right term, because work is a big and beautiful part of my life.

Maybe it's "others-and-me balance".

Maybe it's just balance. Or peace. I like that idea.

In any case, as always my friends, I'm growing.

And ME, my wellness, and the people I love, that's what gets the most time in my calendar.

Suck on that, 2021.

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As a rockstar business writer, trainer, and keynote speaker, I show people how to feel more powerful in their own universe, so they can have joy.

I remind big companies and government agencies drowning in corporate jargon, that plain language will get you better results – every, single, time.

I un-train! Because it turns out that business writing is more about being courageously transparent than it is about having an impressive vocab or where the f*ck to put a semi-colon.

And when we choose to operate with authenticity, integrity, and courage, both our business writing and our lives achieve the outcomes we’re craving.

Know yourself. Love yourself. Have power. Find joy.