Here’s why work-life balance doesn’t work

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I used to think I was looking for work-life balance. If I could just balance out my time at work with all my other interests and priorities, I thought, I’d feel balanced and content.

I read all kinds of articles about how to achieve work-life balance, and I tried everything:

… getting up super early and creating a morning routine before work,

… packing healthy lunches the night before,

… squeezing in gym-time during my work lunch hour,

… packing my weekends with fun plans with friends,

… working on my side hustle/passion project in the evenings,

… and tons of other balancing strategies.

Just reading back over that list makes me tired!

I was trying to create balance by fitting in my life outside of the 40+ hours I was at work (not to mention the extra hours commuting, getting ready for work, and answering late-night “emergency” emails). But all I ended up feeling was drained.

It took me a long time to realize that having balance and freedom are NOT the same thing. One of my core desired feelings is freedom, I kept hoping that, once I finally had that elusive work-life balance, I would finally feel free.

But you know what? Working a 40-hour workweek in a cubicle is never going to feel like freedom for me, no matter how much I try to balance it with the rest of my life. I don’t actually WANT to balance my work with my life.

I don’t like thinking of “work” as this separate category from “life” anyway — that’s pretty much implying that your life is put on hold while you’re at work (which, honestly, is how I felt at times in my previous desk jobs). In fact, I don’t really want to “work” at all, at least in the traditional definition of the word.

[Side note: We recently posted a WTF reaction we had when looking up “work” on thesaurus.com … you should probably check it out.]

It turns out, what I want doesn’t have a title yet. I’ve heard of work-life integration, and that feels like it’s getting closer to what I’m looking for, but it still categorizes “life” as something separate from “work.”

So I’m creating my own term … what I want is “Work-Life Freedom.”

Here’s how I define that for myself: Having the freedom to spend my life doing things that fire up my passion, tap into my natural abilities and interests, and make a tangible impact on the people I most want to help. [Did you notice that “work” wasn’t even part of the definition? ;)]

It took me years to finally realize what my definition of freedom was, and everyone’s is unique.

I don’t want it to take you that long to figure out what makes you feel fulfilled, free, and totally YOU.

That’s why Rachel and I are developing a new coaching program, unlike anything we’ve ever done before. We’re specifically designing it to help you get clear on your passion and goals, create a rock-solid master plan to escape your boring job, and fill you with energy to start taking inspired action toward the life you want.

We hope to share all the details with you next week, so stay tuned!

Now we want to hear from you – how do you feel about the phrase “Work-Life Freedom”? How would you define it for yourself?

Much love,

Kristen (& Rachel)