Work/Life Balance? That's so Seventies!

It's time to move beyond the idea of work/life balance. Now that HR have become Human Capital Partners and we all work in space (e.g. "....a primary player in the IT space") (WTF?), the time is right to think further than this this outdated concept. It implies that there is a separation between work and life, that these are somehow disparate when clearly they are not - work is part of life and a significant part at that. So, using my elementary math skills, if work is a subset of life then mathematically:

Work/Life balance = W/L = f(L)/L = 1/Lexp2 = 0

Yes blog readers (well, actually reader, according to my blogger.com stats) you are first to see mathematical proof that work/life balance has zero value. In fact it has less than zero value (but I couldn't figure out how to get a negative number) because holding onto the ideal of separation means that we do not get maximum benefit and enjoyment out of work or other areas of life. This separation is reinforced culturally from our infancy, for example in the UK where kids dress in uniforms to demarcate their school existence, then the bell rings and real life begins.

Genuine impact in life, in all spaces, comes from integration, not separation. Someone once told me that in any situation the goal is to integrate, even with an opponent in a boxing or karate bout we must integrate, blend with the adversary to allow us to find a winning solution. Integration of work and life brings the realization that it is exactly the same set of principles that lead to success in all endeavors. This same understanding allows us to to become a better parent or partner, sports-person or artist by using the experiences that we have at work to benefit other areas and vice versa. It's just life - everything is an opportunity to practice and learn, especially if we adopt a strategy to accelerate this holistic approach.

Some of the strategies that can create this unified approach have been touched on in earlier in this blog; future posts will continue the theme. Until then, I will leave this post with a clip from Dr. Feelgood, precursors of punk from the 1970's, performing the song that defined my seventies idea of work/life balance for many years:
The day dragged by so slow
I feel just like I'm dying
Stop work whistle blow
And then I start reviving
Across your yard, beneath the stars
I made it through another day and here we are:
Back in the night...