Life is not really divided into semesters, academic or financial years, months, weeks and days, nor is it divided into work, recreation, play, hobbies etc. All these are just mental abstractions devised for practical benefits. And while they serve a purpose they also come at a price, any time we divide anything into aspects we eventually forget that we created the split but it’s not fragmented on its own. Now that being said let’s return to the topic of work-life balance.

The idea of work-life balance however noble at its source really impoverishes one’s experience of life. Because it is impossible to separate both. Let’s say you had a huge financial gain at work, would it affect your personal life? Hopefully yes! Now let’s say you are happy in your personal life will that affect your productivity at work? Speaking from experience, a definite Yes! But the influence can also go another way around, both work and life can have a negative influence on each other. This is because work is not separate from life but a part of life. A part that will occupy a large amount of your day.

So let’s say we change the terminology from work-life balance to work-play balance, what would happen then? This would mean that you would spend majority of your day on something that you’d regard as purposeful work then to make enough money and spare time for something else called Play, something you’d enjoy. Well that’s not good either for it is better to regard everything we do as play by letting go of seriousness but maintaining sincerity otherwise one would be stuck in this conflict of what you need to do versus what you want to do and that would make your life a living hell.

But now one might say that it’s not easy to regard my job as play because it requires serious effort or I hate my job but I have responsibilities so I can’t quit it. In the second case I might advise a change of career in a long run but in the short run in both cases I would like to point out that – psychologically speaking – being too serious or grim is not making you any more efficient than being playful. It gives us a sense of being more productive because you feel it as this mental strain but it’s not helpful whatsoever.

Research has shown us over and over again that flow state is the most productive work state, athletes might call it being in the zone. I know it’s easier said than done but it’s possible with some effort to make any work a little more enjoyable and playful by not resisting it and by flowing with it because by resisting it we are just fighting ourselves.

I might be in a miserable situation but if I keep telling myself it’s miserable than I am only destroying my positive energy while by not repeating it’s miserable and focusing on some positive aspect or some positive vision for future while still not giving up on the effort, still being sincere but without being serious makes a huge difference for me.

Now returning to the idea of work-life balance instead of striving for balance, striving for a dynamic equilibrium could be much more helpful, that would be much more organic than allocating fixed hours for something and sticking to it, it is ok to not workout some days, it is ok to not be 100% productive every single day, it is ok to be in a rut sometimes. Understand that everything is cyclic and has it’s own rhythm.

Cut yourself some slack, even the sun doesn’t shine for same hours throughout the year, even the moon doesn’t show up on your window looking the same everyday. So instead of trying to find this perfect balance focus on the thing that comes easiest and most natural to you and do so with joy and keep on doing one thing at a time, no multitasking just one thing at a time.

Turn your life into a dance, a symphony, playing one note at a time with perfect presence and joy. Celebrate little things and that will get the ball rolling and instead of arriving at balance you will arrive at something better, it’s called fulfilment.

What are your thoughts on this? Let me know in the comments below. Like and Share, for Sharing is Caring ;).