The Myth Of Work Life Balance

An empowering guide that will show you how to shed the myth of the “work-life balance” by merging the seven key components that make up your life to attain harmony and whole-life success “All of us have Seven Slices in our lives: our Family Slice, our Professional Slice, our Personal Slice, our Physical Slice, our Intellectual Slice, our Emotional Slice, and our Spiritual Slice. These all need to be served in some fashion—and in serving them, they, in turn, serve us.” This relatively simple but profoundly critical concept is at the heart of the method executive coach David McNeff has used to transform the lives and careers of his clients. It begins with two important facts: 1) stress happens—you can’t avoid it; and 2) your existence is composed of far more than “work” and “life.” Too often, we divide our lives into those two general categories, but we’re all a lot more complex and our lives are richer than that. By being clear and mindful of all aspects of your life—the Seven Slices—you’ll be more likely to find inner harmony when stress impacts one of them. In The Work-Life Balance Myth, McNeff takes you on a deep dive into each of the Seven Slices, explaining the components of each Slice, signs that you may not be attending to each Slice in a healthy way, and hands-on methods for accessing an underserved Slice. The Work-Life Balance Myth won’t make your life perfect—no one can do that, and you shouldn’t trust anyone who makes that promise. What this book will do is provide you with proven new ways of framing your life, seeing stress for what it is, and vastly improving your ability to navigate the emotional challenges that will inevitably arise in a way that serves your Seven Slices.

The prescriptive follow-up to the New York Times bestseller The Dream Manager. One of the major issues in our lives today is work-life balance. Everyone wants it; no one has it. But Matthew Kelly believes that work- life balance was a mistake from the start. Because we don't really want balance. We want satisfaction. Kelly lays out the system he uses with his clients, his team, and himself to find deep, long-term satisfaction both personally and professionally. He introduces us to the three philosophies of our age that are dragging us down. He shows us how to cultivate the energy that will give us enough battery power for everything we need and want to do. And finally, in five clear steps, he shows us how to use his Personal & Professional Satisfaction System to establish and honor our biggest priorities, even if we spend a lot more time on some of the lesser ones.

Many regard the ways in which paid work can be combined or ‘balanced’ with other parts of life as an individual concern and a small, rather self-indulgent problem in today’s world. Some feel that worrying about a lack of time or energy for family relationships or friendships is a luxury or secondary issue when compared with economic growth or development. In the business world and among many Governments around the world, the importance of paid work and the primacy of economic competitiveness, whatever the personal costs, is almost accepted wisdom. Profits and short term efficiency gains are often placed before social issues of care or human dignity. But what about the impact this has on men and women’s well being, or the long-term sustainability of people, families, society or even the economy? Drawing from interviews and group meetings in seven diverse countries – India, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, the UK and USA – this book explores the multiple difficulties in combining paid work with other parts of life and the frustrations people experience in diverse settings. There is a myth that ‘work-life balance’ can be achieved through quick fixes rather than challenging the place of paid work in people’s lives and the way work actually gets done. As well as exploring contemporary problems, this book attempts to seed hope and new ways of thinking about one of the key challenges of our time.

Tired of trying to attain the mythical work-life balance and constantly feeling frustrated? Are you giving yourself a C– for your performances at work and at home? Teresa A. Taylor knows that trying to be a career woman and a mom can leave you feeling tired and defeated, and she wants you to take a new approach. She herself rapidly ascended through the ranks to become COO of a Fortune 200 company while raising two boys with her working husband, and in The Balance Myth, she shows you how you can do it too. Taylor takes you along to a meeting in the White House, to union negotiations, and to her sons’ soccer practices as she shares her candid, humorous, and heartfelt stories. Based on these real-life experiences and the lessons she learned from them, she shares the key to living with multiple responsibilities: integrating—not bifurcating—your personal and professional worlds. In addition, she offers insights about leading with integrity; surrounding yourself with positive resources; pushing through adversity; and celebrating accomplishments—especially your own. Taylor couldn’t take the mother out of the career woman or vice versa, and she believes that you shouldn’t have to either. Don’t search for balance; the answers are within you! -- Written in an engaging voice, Teresa Taylor, the high-profile COO of Qwest who orchestrated a $20 billion acquisition in the telecom industry, uses memoir and real-life examples to deliver valuable business perspectives that illustrate how she rose to the top of a Fortune 200 company while also raising her two sons with her working husband and maintaining fulfilling family relationships. Taylor illustrates that executives (as well as professionals with executive ambitions) don’t have to sacrifice a successful family life for a corner office position—and she provides the keys to managing these multiple responsibilities based on her experience.

A satisfactory and healthy integration of work with other life domains is one of the key challenges of modern society. Work-life balance and work-life integration have become focal points of today’s human resource management practice and theory. Professionals who have been described as “extreme workers” regarding their work hours and engagement are under particular pressure to balance work and ”the rest of life”. This collection maps the increasingly extensive discussion of work-life issues for professionals and discusses key aspects in depth. What is work-life integration? What are the specific challenges for professionals? How do they manage their blurred work-life boundaries? How can companies intervene? Internationally leading authors discuss antecedents and individual and organizational outcomes of work-life integration, gender-specific perspectives and challenges as well as the use and usefulness of corporate work-life balance initiatives. In five sections distinguished researchers from across the world present experiences and research findings to provide a compendium of academic and applied research on the work-life integration of professionals. Cutting-edge research and novel theoretical perspectives make this collection a source of knowledge and inspiration for academic and business audiences interested in work-life integration issues in general and in the case of professionals in particular.

Now considered a classic in the field, this book first called attention to what Kanter has referred to as the "myth of separate worlds." Rosabeth Moss Kanter was one of the first to argue that the assumes separation between work and family was a myth and that research must explore the linkages between these two roles.

Balance is a mythical beast. We always say we need to achieve it for equilibrium in our work, life, or family time, but balance doesn't really exist. In The Myth of Balance, Frank Bealer explains how a simple four-word formula can prepare you for the unexpected and not-so-unexpected events that distract you in the most inconvenient moments. Next time, be ready to slay the beast of balance with this time-tested approach.

In today’s globalised world economy, it is becoming increasingly pressing to shine a light on the interface of work and private life. In order to fully understand the issue we must take an inclusive view and not limit our understanding to Western perspectives. This contributed volume encompasses research and perspectives from the global south, including Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and South America. In doing so, this collection fills a gap in existing literature to give a broader view of the topic. Divided by geographic territory into three sections, the book combines original research, case studies and interviews as well as comparative studies. Chapters cover a wide range of emerging issues including gender and work-life balance; the role of culture; men and household work and work and family balance, to name a few. Crucially, the book offers critical perspectives and understanding of work-life interface/balance/conflict as a collection of conceptual, theoretical, and empirical studies that draws on qualitative and mixed methodologies. Bringing a unique contribution to the field, this book is a useful resource for students, academics, managers and policy makers.