Finding and maintaining a good work life balance is an essential task for any Uncommoner, and yet it is one of the hardest things to achieve. Before we make the transition into our uncommon lives, the lack of time and overwhelming emphasis on work is often what provoke us to search for something more – yet when we are liberated and working in our uncommon vocation we often still find balance a challenge because work feels less like work.
Today, we are going to dive into this topic and see what we can come up with. The main question is this, “in a life where you love your work, is “life” balance necessary, and in what proportion?”
And yes, the title of this post comes from a song off the Disney’s Pocahontas soundtrack…what?
At first blush, many people would think that an Uncommoner has no need for work life balance. Societal thought is that work life balance is needed for individuals who are caught up in the rat race to keep them from burning out. These individuals are characterized in our minds as being strung out on caffeine with bags under their eyes and a permanent crease between their brows. Yet our association between the term “work life balance” and the rat race is most likely due to the fact that it has become a corporate buzz word over the past ten years because they discovered that – oddly – human beings can’t work 80 hour work weeks 50 weeks a year and be completely fine and productive. Weird…
Cultural thought also tells us that individuals who live outside of the confines of the rat race don’t need to focus on balance because their lives are balanced the opposite way with too much life and too little work. For example, consider someone like Brad Pitt – if I were to tell you that they needed to increase their work life balance, you would laugh in my face. “Brad Pitt doesn’t need more time off, he is a celebrity he is always on vacation!” But the truth is even though he lives the sweet life – tons of cash, fancy clothes, and fame – he is constantly on set, away from home, doing publicity rounds, etc. The moral of the story:
Just because it doesn’t look like work, or maybe even feel like work, doesn’t mean it isn’t.
For Uncommoners, burn out is a very real possibility – maybe an even more real possibility for us than the rat racers because the lines between work and “the rest of life” can be so easily blurred. When you are passionate about what you are doing, time gets away from you and it is easy to spend all energy toward it. The result? You suddenly burn out with little to no warning.
We don’t want that.
This is why consciously integrating a balance between our uncommon vocations and “the rest of life” is a vital responsibility of all Uncommoners. Be sure you find time to incorporate the following things into your Uncommon Life:
- Time with your family and friends
- Time with your romantic partner
- Time for physical exercise
- Time for fun (going to the movies, weekend trips, playing sports)
- Time for private reflection
It is up to you how much of each of these you include in your daily life. Some things, like time with friends, don’t have to be an every day thing – you can have a standing girl’s or guy’s night every two weeks or month. However, time with your spouse, physical exercise, and private reflection are key “rest of life” stuff that should be peppered in much more frequently.
The bottom line is these time responsibilities are like soul food – they provide you with strength, inspiration, and fuel to succeed to your personal highest potential. So to answer our thought question, yes, we do need work-life balance. Balance is a key element of nature, but what balance means to you is a very personal and unique thing. Which is why knowing yourself (authenticity!) is a very important aspect of being an Uncommoner – it extends into the little picture as well. Yet maybe work-life balance is the wrong term for us, since work is a part – and loved – part of our lives. Perhaps we should refer to it as “Pursuit – Personal Nourishment Balance.”
Or we’ll just stick with work life balance, since it is easier to say. But you will know what I really mean!
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Twitter: evanhadkins
I think burnout happens because the vision/possibilities are endless, but our energy isn’t. Burnout tends to happen to those who are idealists or who are pursuing a cause.
It is important to have a healthy relationship to our ideals/causes. We may choose burnout as a noble sacrifice but if we do I think this should be a choice not a compulsion.
For me the healthy relationship to my cause is helped by things like:
trying to behave non-hypocritically – If I want people to live healthier lives I shouldn’t burn myself out in the process of bringing this about.
seeing my relationship to the cause – the revolution is to bring something about, not an end in itself
Hope this helps.
That’s an interesting thought about sacrificing yourself to burnout for an important cause – it is true, there are those moments in life where you need to just push until it gets done. So glad you brought that up – what do you think is worth this “noble sacrifice?” (great way to put it!) – Thanks, Evan!