Why ‘work/life balance’ is a bad idea
I’m sick of the phrase ‘work/life’ balance. Why? Because it prioritises all the wrong things.
Many of us struggle with the enormous demands and expectations of the modern workplace, trying to balance these with the equally busy and pressurised home lives many of us lead in the modern world.
The remarkable few people who manage to hold down a busy, pressurised job whilst keeping a grip on family duties and maintaining an active, aspirational social life are perceived as achieving the nirvana of ‘work/life balance’, whereas the rest of us flounder and become overwhelmed either at work or in our home lives.
As many of my clients are finding out for themselves, ‘work/life balance’ may just be a phrase, and may seem to be encouraging us to make our lives not just about work, but it is another subtle way in which we can find ourselves trapped in restricted ways of thinking about our lives – in this case, the role work should play within them (note the ‘should’).
This is because, for many people, the idea of work/life balance is yet another pressure on us. It’s yet another thing we are meant to aspire to, and that we feel bad about when we are unable to achieve it. The idea also assumes that the perfect human life is to be maximally efficient and productive – both in work and in our social lives. It is therefore just another extension of the market-driven mindset that dominates our culture, and that piles yet more pressure on us to behave in certain ways.
When my clients have given themselves the time to consider what matters in their lives however, they often say that fulfilling work that pays the bills is just one of many ingredients of a good, meaningful life. We all need to earn a living, but, for many people, giving work the same status as all the other parts of life combined (as reflected in the phrase ‘work/life balance’) is giving work a far greater priority than it deserves. Work is just one of many parts of life.
Not only this, but a good human life is not about being maximally efficient and productive – we are human beings, not machines. We enjoy staring at sunsets, having a gossipy coffee with friends and going for long walks. ‘A good life’ does not have to be about efficiency, productivity and maximisation – yet this is what our culture (both at work and in broader life) is still trying to persuade us.
When we get the chance to pause and stand back from our lives, we can start to challenge the assumptions and ideas like these that influence us. We can then begin to take control of our lives.
The real question is – how can you live the life you want? And where does work fit within that?
So, let’s stop seeking Work/Life balance – and seek Life instead.
