Your Work-life Balance Hangs in These Four Quadrants

I find most “work-life balance” conversations challenging. For starters, there’s a distinctly gendered component to them—where women seem to be expected to worry more about balancing it all, and where “life” is code for domestic duties, rather than, you know, life in all its juicy, nourishing, celebratory glory.

But I find we also tend to get caught up in finding a single correct answer that works for everyone. And of course, the answer is different for everyone.

In my experience, the work-life axis just doesn’t work.

On the other hand, we certainly know it when the balance is out of whack. We feel harried, exhausted, and acutely aware of the stuff we wish we were doing instead of whatever it is that’s taking over our life. I’ve had several conversations lately with people whose lives are so full that they aren’t finding time for the stuff that really lights them up—and that’s a tough place to be.

So how do we pull things back into balance? How do we figure out which stuff to prioritize? And how do we figure out what the right balance for us is, anyway?

See the quadrants and read more at Quartz.

(Image via docstockmedia/Shutterstock.com)