Why life+work? Craft the Life+Work You Want
When I wrote the Sustainable Ambition 12-Month Workbook+Planner to support building Your Life+Work Resilience Rx, I was intentional in putting Life first in Life+Work.
I realized that I didn’t like how terms such as “work-life balance” put work first. Why is that? As much as I think meaningful work is a part of finding fulfillment in our life, we can get tripped up when we put work first. Work isn’t primary; it fits into the vessel of our life.
Why does it matter? Because words matter. They frame expectations for ourselves and others. I appreciated hearing this from Brené Brown during a talk at the California Conference for Women a few months back. She expressed this very point: that because words matter, she now uses more specific words when communicating (e.g., I’m on the edge vs. I’m burned out, I’m overwhelmed vs. I’m stressed).
At the start of the year, I was happy to see that Thrive Global came to the same conclusion, shifting work-life integration to life-work integration and agreeing to do away with the term "balance," which I’m also not a fan of since it implies that elements of our life and work can and should always be in equilibrium, which sets unrealistic expectations. No wonder so many of us are frustrated!
See, the lies we are told are that:
We need to structure our lives around our work
Life activities and work activities are mutually exclusive
We can do it all
The truth is that:
People have personal lives that need their attention
Life and work are naturally integrated and intertwined
Our modern constructs around the integration of work and life are outdated and unsustainable
We need to make choices
Sustainable Ambition is ambition that considers life+work and is defined by you. As Thrive Global wrote, “Our work and our lives are always integrated, so acknowledging that truth in the way we talk about our lives makes it easier to sustain.” Right on!
I’ve told you the lie. I’ve told you the truth. Now I’d like to give you a Dare. : )
How does work integrate into your life? What choices would you make and what do you want to ask for to support better life+work integration?
Tap your courage to craft the life+work you want.
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