How can you lead an integrated life?

The concept of work life balance is an interesting one. Why do we want to balance work with life? It seems to me that part of life is work! After all, the work week for many is no longer 9 to 5 Monday to Friday and has become a big part of who we are. How important is it for you then to integrate work into your lives, and not treat it as a separate piece?

There is no “work you”, there is just you, and you should show up authentically at work just as you would in any other area of your life; whether it’s time with family and friends, contribution to community or time for self. Remember that all these areas are important, yet all can’t be your priority at any one time. Some weeks your business may be more consuming than others, other times a family vacation may mean the majority of your time is spent with those you love.

In a TED talk by Nigel Marsh, he talks about the need to expand the period of time in which we would like to achieve work-life balance. No one achieves so called balance in a day, and not a lot of us even achieve it in a week. However, if you reflect on where your time has been spent across the last month or two, ensure that you are taking the time for self and others, and not just the tasks that are pressing on you. A date with your partner, lunch with your parents, a footy game with the kids, fund raising for the local charity, that massage at the day spa and brunch with your best friend should seamlessly integrate with all those important business priorities that have you scrambling around day in day out.

Work is one part of your life; so live it authentically and bring the whole of you to all that you do, and remember to spend time in all the important areas of your life. It just doesn’t have to be all today.

Read more of Scott’s insights here.

This article was featured in the September issue of the Hunter Business Review