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A Different Way To Think About Work-Life Balance
Think of it instead as a balance between purposeful activities and enjoyable activities
You get a better appreciation for what work-life balance means when one of those goes out of whack (typically work). I did just that in management consulting where work weeks can go to 60+ hours with weekends and evenings devoted to work when there are imminent deadlines. You start to question what you do and what it is all for when you’re spending your weekends in the office working on something that has a small chance for success.
That’s why I was fascinated by John Coleman’s book “HBR’s Guide to Crafting your Purpose”. Although not specifically about work-life balance, he introduced a framework that better helped me think about what it means to lead a balanced life.
His framework has two axes: purpose and enjoyment.
- Activities that don’t have a purpose and you don’t enjoy are things that you just don’t do. Why do something that doesn’t mean something to you AND you don’t enjoy it?
- Activities that have a purpose but you don’t enjoy could be things like chores, running errands, or buying groceries — they all serve a purpose but you may not enjoy cleaning the toilets (although maybe you do!)
