Letting Go of Work/Life Balance

As we juggle many things—careers, kids, relationships, family, community, health—many of us constantly strive for what we call a work/life balance. I know the image: work on one side of the scale and life on the other, with a perfect point of balance in the middle.

That’s the image we’ve been taught to go after. Right? 

However, the reality is that this image is not realistic. I know it and you know it. Even if you find that elusive, magical point of balance, it will be gone in seconds when the deadline moves, or a kid gets sick, or you get more business, or something else pops up.

We’re constantly caught between trying to find that balance and feeling like we’ll never be able to. And yet we are convinced that others must be achieving it, which means we are doing something wrong and must just need to try harder.

Note: We’re trying to achieve something that’s not even possible. The old idea of a Work/Life Balance is not possible. And it’s time to let it go!

Today is the day I want you to replace the idea of a Work/Life Balance with the concept of a Full-Life Blend.

Let’s use the analogy of making smoothies.

The great thing about smoothies is that you can choose to make your own blend based on what you like and/or need. You can even add different ingredients each time you make the smoothie, depending on how you feel, what sounds good in that moment, and what the goal of the smoothie is. 

Some people make their smoothie based only on preferred taste (what they want) and some make it based only nutritional desire (what they need). Neither of these is ideal because at some point you’ll likely realize that either your desires aren’t being met (the smoothie tastes terrible) or your needs aren’t being met (the smoothie tastes good but actually isn’t giving your body what it needs). In other words, the blend is off.

Even bigger trouble comes when you make your smoothie based on someone else’s recipe without regard for your own needs and wants. When you make your smoothie with ingredients that you don’t really like or need, but that you think you should use because someone else told you to, you end up drinking a smoothie that doesn’t propel you toward your goals and dreams. The blend is way off.

The answer to the smoothie dilemma is this:

Make your smoothies with ingredients that you like (what you want), adding in some things that you don’t especially like but that are good for you (what you need), but in a minimal amount so that you can still enjoy the taste of your smoothie while getting the necessary benefits from it.

You get the point.

I want you to think about your life as a blender—a container to hold and mix the ingredients that will help you create your best life. Instead of trying to balance work on one end and the rest of life on the other, we’re actually looking at our lives as a blend of everything together. 

YOU get to choose which ingredients to include.

YOU get to choose how much of each ingredient you will consume each day.

YOU get to create your own unique blend that works for you based on who you are, what you want and the stage of life you are in.

The beautiful thing about seeing your life this way is that you can create a different “flavor” for each day, each week, each month, each year, in order to create your perfect Full-Life Blend.

If we change our concept of balance and think of it as blending, we can actually adjust on a regular basis depending on what we want to “consume” and experience in our own lives.

Until next time, live what matters.

NICOLA TAGGART’S BIO:

 Nicola Taggart is a personal and professional development strategist, coach, and speaker. Her brilliance is in inspiring and leading others to take ownership of their life, choices, and happiness. By learning how to slow down and redefine success and balance—from the inside out—others are empowered to experience more freedom and fulfillment in all areas of their life and shed feelings of chaos and overwhelm. Nicola is the author of the Calm the Chaos Journal and Card Deck available at Amazon, Target, and leading bookstores. Corporate clients and private clients are invited to reach out to her at www.NicolaTaggart.com.