WORK LIFE BALANCE IS BULLSHIT
As we continue to recover from the last 24 months of the pandemic, and ultimately adjust to whatever this “new normal” is, productivity is a hot topic. This is because employers are struggling with the idea of bringing their employees back into the office in the hopes of driving collaboration and creativity, while still maintaining the idea that they support their employees Work-Life-Balance. There is only one problem with this idea.
Work Life Balance is a myth.
It doesn’t exist anymore as the terminology for defining it has changed. I am a big believer in using accurate words to describe whatever you are trying to discuss – and BALANCE between work and life is not antiquated, it denotes the wrong imagery.
I hear balance and I think scales and “equal”. Therefore driving the notion that work and life should be balanced and equal. Let’s look at it from a sheer numbers perspective. 24 hours a day x 7 days a week = 168 hours per week to balance. If work life balance were the goal, then logically 84 hours of work + 84 hours of life = 168 hours.
What?!
Nope.
No thank you, no pi-de-do-dah, nope on a rope. NOT interested.
Now I am not the first person to ever write about this imbalance, nor is it an original idea to do the math and break down those 168 hours and try to find the best way to be your most productive self within that time frame.
But what I am proposing is something different.