forget work-life balance, try work-life harmony
Much of why I am a Positive Psychology Coach & Consultant weighs on the very trendy topic of work-life balance. Instead of work-life balance, I would like to bring to the forefront the idea of work-life alignment.
During my career in human resources, I was a strong advocate for creating more work-life balance for myself in my well-being at work and for the staff I was supporting in the office. This was until I realized I was chasing after an unrealistic outcome that was unsustainable. Work and life is a constant balancing act and near impossible to achieve true lasting balance with the ebbs and flows of new deadlines, tasks, expectations, personal life events, and changes. As I began to go on a soul search as to how I could reduce stress and improve my well-being both at work and in life, I discovered an amazing quote that shifted everything. Shawn Achor, in his book The Happiness Advantage, said, “Success is not the key to happiness; happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” As this quote sat with me, I realized I could no longer segment my life into two halves: work and life. I have one life to live, and I am one person. Therefore, work should be harmonized and aligned into my life in a meaningful, gratifying, and enriching way so that work is a joy.
We need to rethink the game of work-life balance and instead face the truth that work is simply a part of life. A part that we have the choice and power to create more meaning, engagement, and pleasure in to make more lasting and enjoyable. In doing so, we will feel a greater sense of well-being and motivation in our work because suddenly it is aligned with our life. So how do we discover the right work-life alignment? It’s a bit of putting a puzzle together and finding the right pieces.
Ideally, we hope to have the whole puzzle with the pieces of our health, relationships, money, career, fun, personal growth, and physical environment fitting together in some sort of synchronicity. We also may find that its about finding meaning and engagement many areas of our life, not just within work.
This may become a new process in discovering life purpose or a calling if you will. There are a few avenues to get curious and discover what this may mean for you:
We can reflect on our values, the legacy we want to leave, and draft a personal life vision for our ideal life to become more aligned with our purpose through.
We can do some life design, crafting three well thought-out avenues for career and prototyping these activities to see what brings us most joy.
Or there is the Japanese version, Ikigai, where we identify what is truly at the center of: 1. Doing what you love, 2. Doing what you’re good at, 3. Doing what you can get paid for, and 4. What the world needs.
All these approaches overlap on one simple truth: we must be authentic with ourselves acknowledging that we are layered, complex human beings with many interests and skills that deserve to be integrated in our lives in a joyful way. Thinking about this, you may just find the answer for yourself on a flight, taking a shower, or even walking your dog.
