WHY work life balance is a myth is as important to understand as knowing that it is one. It’s important because the way a topic is framed has a large impact on how we think about it. It directs our focus and influences the options we perceive. Most people I speak with consciously know there is no real balance between work and life. Yet work/life balance is still used to describe a primary challenge facing people. The fundamental issue with the term work/life balance isn’t just that such a thing doesn’t exist. The issue is also the framing of our struggle being one of work/life balance and the assumptions on which that framing is based. One assumption is that working has equal priority to living. Another is that they oppose each other. Thus, the challenge of work/life balance is a fictious one based on inhumane assumptions that prevent creating healthy and sustainable ways of being in the world.
In this episode of Unlimited, I explore the roots of the work/life balance myth and how the myth perpetuates itself as a problem.
Some of what I talk about in this episode includes:
LINKS REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE:
Truly Experiences - The History of Work Life Balance
Oxford Bibliographies – Work/Life Balance
Positive Psychology – What Is Work Life Balance
Forbes – The Evolving Definition of Work/Life Balance
Book – The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
Book – Stolen Focus by Johann Hari
Book – How We Show Up by Mia Birdsong
Book – Rest Is Resistance by Tricia Hersey
Unlimited Episode – Dealing With Impostor Syndrome
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