Work-life balance – a mythical state?
When it comes to work life balance, it’s a subject that exercises the minds of many of us. Indeed, to some, it may seem to be an almost-mythical state, that the likes of the Tim Ferriss and his 4 hour work week devotees aspire to? But who really achieves it?

Whether you consider yourself a “wage-slave” or Captain of your own destiny, what does work-life balance really mean to you?

You don’t want balance…

We were intrigued to read Anthony Iannarino’s recent blog on work life balance for that reason, particularly his central proposition:

“You don’t want balance, if balance means you don’t produce the best outcomes you are capable of. You want to outperform when it comes to work, and you want to outperform when it comes to your personal life. You want to put these things in the context of your longer-term goals, and work towards those. The goal is an exceptional life in all areas.”

I’m not entirely convinced that we’ve really thought this one through. And little wonder, given the huge amount of often conflicting advice we get about this wide subject of work/life balance.

Are we really juggling the ‘work’ and the ‘life’ as an end in itself? Or is work/life balance simply a means to getting us to where we’re heading, where we’re pointing our boat?

And, in any case, does work / life balance, once achieved, mean you are reaching your goals all the more successfully? Will it make the “boat” go faster, whatever your boat may be?

What’s the life you want to lead?

You see, it will always become an ‘end’ in itself if you haven’t spent the time and effort to clarify what’s important to you, (your ‘Crazy goal’ in our language). What’s the life you want to lead? And how does work/life balance best serve that life?

I know very disgruntled people who have ticked the work life balance box, and very satisfied folks who have none of what most people might call ‘balance’. Indeed, sitting next to me now is Olympian Ben Hunt-Davis whose Crazy goal of winning a gold medal in Sydney in 2000 required him to focus entirely on rowing, almost to the exclusion of any other home or academic life he might have considered.

But that was OK. He chose that willingly. This was his work/life balance.

So balance isn’t always what it seems. The satisfied ones have taken the steps to realise that the ‘means’ are less important than the end… and make their boat go faster by focusing on that end every day.

For regular updates from the blog and for more tips and advice on improving performance in your business and in your personal life, you can sign up to our Performance Insights  – Olympic winning strategies for improved performance.