---

Guest post by: Julie Fleming-Brown Become an Author

Tweet

---

---

These days, many of us spend our days being stressed about meeting our career and personal responsibilities, and we feel guilty on top of that stress because we're out of "balance." Easy to understand, since we're told to seek work/life balance. But, how is balance measured? More specifically, what does work/life balance really mean?

We often talk about balance as if it's a concrete object or a well-defined state of being. We wonder whether we're "in balance," much as a woman might wonder whether she's pregnant, expecting a clear yes or no answer. But that view is limited, limiting, and essentially unhelpful.

Balance is better understood as flow. For instance, I'm building my business right now. It's been my full-time occupation for about six months, and I've spent a disproportionate amount of time during that six months on my business. Since I've made the choice to pass up a variety of recreational activities -- everything from going to the movies to taking a spa vacation with a friend -- it would be easy to conclude that I'm "out of balance."

As I look at it, though, I'm working to create something. That takes a lot of time, effort, and energy. But once it's created and sustainable, I'll be able to refocus some of my energy elsewhere. There's a tipping point that divides creation from existence; Newton's First Law tells us that objects in motion tend to stay in motion; and so once I am satisfied that my business is ticking along on its own, I'll be able to shift the creative energy from that endeavor to something else -- getting some recreation so I'll be refreshed and ready to create something new. I've identified that point, so I know what I'm looking for, and when I reach it, I know I'll spend time putting my life back into a state of balance by spending a disproportionate amount of time on rest and relaxation. For me, in these circumstances, balance means a period of (relatively) short-term extreme productivity, sustained by adequate self-care and followed by a period of replenishment.

I advocate using an Absolute Yes list to ensure balance. List your top 3-5 priorities for whatever amount of time you choose. I like to copy the list and put in places where I'll see it frequently: in my calendar, taped to my visor in my car, in a desk drawer, etc. The list serves two functions.

First, when a decision comes up, if the activity I'm considering doesn't serve one of my Absolute Yes items, that means it's almost certainly a NO, and I'll pass. And second, the list reminds me to pay some attention to each priority. If I've gone too long -- a few days, a week -- without touching on one of my listed priorities, I make a special effort to include something related to that priority in my schedule.

With this system, balance is measured over the space of days and weeks, not in 24-hour blocks. It also recognizes that a particular work-related item is the top priority may take the lion's share of time for a while. Although I'd love to suggest that we should all balance our work/family/self-care responsibilities each and every day, that's just a recipe for frustration for most professionals.

Take the long-term view instead.

Related Articles

  Lessins Lessons for Life Balance
  The Myth of Balance
  Leadership Success Strategy - Your Winning Leadership Formula to a Balanced Life
  Why You Need to Stop Pursuing Work-Life Balance
  Your Work or Your Life
  Less Working Hours Do Not Improve Aussie Work Life Balance
  Balance Yourself With Your Life Wheel
  Step by Step
  Feld-Weiser One-on-One: Feld on Work-Life Balance
  Work Life Balance
  Make Time for Balance
  Promote Work-Life Balance to Retain and Motivate Employees
  There's No Such Thing as a Balanced Life
  How to handle stress in your side business
  Balance
  A Question of Balance
  How Balanced is YOUR Life?
  Coaching And Work Life Balance
  Set Boundaries Early
  Balancing Your Busy Life Through Delegation

Related Forum Posts

Re: Sources of Cash
The Second Life Platform
Re: The Second Life Platform
Re: Sources of Cash
Re: Charge what you're worth

Share this article. Fund someone's dream.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

5 traits of a successful entrepreneur

Why People Don’t Believe Advertising

6 step process to Lean Marketing

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.