You Need Work-Life Wholeness

Let's forget this business about "Work-Life Balance." You don't want that.

Seriously: think about it. Here's why you'd hate that idea (or maybe why you're hating it right now):

1. It assumes you can balance things as huge as "work" and "life." That just isn't going to happen. Even if you're a solo entrepreneur, how in control do you feel with the whole of your "work"? If you're a human of any kind, how in control do you feel with the whole of your "life"? You can't balance things that are bigger than you are.

2. It assumes "life" and "work" are of equal weight and value. Hmm, that's interesting. Sounds like something that people at "work" came up with. If this is true—that these should be balanced—then, if you succeed, 50% of your time, energy, and mindspace will be taken up by work. Is that really what you want? Is that success?

3. It assumes that "life" is one category. This is the strangest part of all. If "life" is a separate category, doesn't that mean that "work" is the opposite of "life"? (I thought that was "death.") Besides, do you want to treat your life like it's a single category?
 

Here's the reality: You can't balance work and life, and you may be exhausted right now from trying to. Life and work aren't of equal weight, even if you're doing amazing work. Life isn't one category.

We know this, but it bears repeating. Your life, every life, is rich. It includes work, to be sure. But it also includes family, friends, hobbies, thoughts, food & drink, travel, rest, conversation, spirituality and beliefs, fears, sickness and health, goals, change, books, movies, art, music, politics, money, and many other things. It simply doesn't do to treat all this like a single category, and one that gets to compete with a single other thing: work.

I believe in Work-Life Wholeness.

It's an idea that acknowledges the richness of life, the unique situation of every life, and the reality that this is all bigger than me. I can't balance it. But I can acknowledge what is in my life, and what could be, even what should be. I can listen to what's competing for my time, my energy, and my mindspace. And I can make decisions about doling out that fuel, that food, to each thing and activity and person, keeping in view the wholeness of my life.

_____________