Work-life balance looks different for everyone. We all have different interests, motivations, energy levels, and ambitions, so one formula does not fit all!
It happens that my husband and I work in the same profession. Ask either of us if we feel like we have “work-life balance” and we’ll give you an emphatic “yes”; however, our “balance” looks very different.
It wasn’t always this way, though. When we started out in our careers, I’d say we both had a similar approach to balance. It was only as we progressed and grew as individuals (and grew our family) that we became increasingly in-tune with our own ambitions and what qualifies as “balance” for us.
Finding balance is an iterative, ever-evolving process, after all!
The Creative Soul in a Corporate Role
I suppose you could say “I want it all” – to spend quality time with my family, to do well in my career, and to engage my creativity with meaningful personal projects. If I can touch on all of these (plus the usual healthy habits: exercise, well-rounded diet, sleep, time with friends, etc.) I’ll feel pretty balanced.
But how, with a demanding day-job and young kids?
Honestly, I had to accept that I wouldn’t be able to do everything to the extent that I wanted. Not in this season, anyways! So I intentionally examined what mattered most. I got strategic about what I needed to feel most in balance, I got creative about how I incorporated them, and I made sure to protect those priorities!
Some of the changes I made included reducing my working hours and my number of days commuting to the office. Easier said than done, of course. We needed a financial forecast and a budget (luckily this is our forte). We had to find flexibility as a family, and to try creative solutions (such as pivoting areas at work) that everyone was amenable to.
I also needed to reduce or eliminate the things that got in the way of what I needed to feel balanced. For example, reducing media consumption freed up more time for creative projects, exercise, and reading. Avoiding multitasking made me more efficient at what I was doing and left me feeling more “on top of things”, with more energy to be present and enjoy family time.
The Aligned Accountant with a Different Balance
My husband’s sense of work-life balance feels so different from mine. He feels more in balance when he can work an extra day on the weekend so that the following Monday morning is less stressful.
That’s just how he operates. It’s not that his workdays are all peaches and cream – far from it! But he gets a certain amount of fulfillment and satisfaction and a lot of autonomy from his career. He feels very well-aligned with his role, which means he can show up authentically most of the time.
He also has very little trouble holding boundaries, so despite working more hours, he still gets his family time in and satisfies his other non-work priorities.
Although we’re both public accountants, we chose very different roles – ones that match our strengths and motivations.
You can see how the right mix of autonomy, achievement and authenticity can look quite different, even in the same industry!
We Don’t Compare
It’s easy to look to others to try to inform our own sense of balance. If he feels balanced working x hours, then I should too! Then we believe it’s a personal failing when we get burnt out on their routine.
We really do need to embrace our uniqueness when it comes to finding a true sense of balance for ourselves. This is why I recommend assessing your current degrees of autonomy, fulfilment and satisfaction and authenticity first, and then getting introspective to find out what truly works for you!
Check out the following posts to get into it:
- Work-Life Balance: How to Find What Really Works for You dives into 3 key factors that help you feel balanced
- Six Steps to Find Your Unique Work-Life Balance takes you on an introspective journey to discover what balance looks like for you
- Work-Life Balance Does Exist (Just Not How You Think) challenges the definition of work-life balance, and explores what works and what doesn’t
Remember: Your work-life balance is unique to you. Build on it, redefine it, allow it to evolve. Just don’t get lost chasing someone else’s!
Wishing you plenty of balance on your journey!
